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Well, we're in a series of messages on what we can now call the 11 Commandments.

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And this is my second heart-to-heart talk on the 11th Commandment.

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Those of you who've been following me will remember that we call the Ten Commandments

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God's Ten Rules for Living.

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When Jesus came and He said, all right, I come not to void my Heavenly Father's Ten

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Rules for Governing Man.

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Instead, I am expecting even more than the law to govern my people.

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From that one who has been born again, that one who has accepted the Christ as a Savior,

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who is a member of my body, I expect from that one a righteousness that exceeds even

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the righteousness of the law.

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And then He made it very clear that even with His coming and the opening of a new dispensation,

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none of these things cancel out or void the law.

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The law is still in effect.

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He talked of a righteousness that exceeds the externalists, the righteousness that exceeds

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the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees.

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He gave as an example, ye have heard that it was said by them of old, thou shalt not

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kill.

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But I say unto you that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be

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in danger of the judgment.

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He went further than even the righteousness that exceeds.

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And in the very last verse, the 48th verse of the fifth chapter of Matthew, it's all

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in the same sermon.

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He gives a command that is almost startling.

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Be ye therefore perfect.

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My word, somebody says.

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I tremble every time I hear that word perfect or perfection when it comes to this thing

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of being a Christian life.

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The law I could see because the creator would have to give a law to govern that which is

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a product of his creation.

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A law to protect life itself.

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Laws to govern man's living.

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Then Jesus comes along and says of a Christian.

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There is a righteousness that I'm expecting from you that goes beyond even the law.

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But now this third step of perfection.

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As one theologian said, there is no such thing as perfection.

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Another great theologian said, perfection is an unrealized ideal toward which we progress

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through all eternity.

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And this last statement came from a very prominent professor of theology.

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And there are thousands in the religious world who believe literally that there can be no

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perfection and yet what are you going to do about it?

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Christ demands it here and now.

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These are his words.

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Be ye therefore perfect even as your father which is in heaven is perfect.

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How can I, a poor struggling sinner, say by the grace of God be perfect?

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Knowing me as I do, oh I'm so far from perfection.

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And I believe with every atom I being there was only one perfect person who ever walked

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this earth and that one was the sun-living God.

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I believe that as great as Paul was, that mighty spiritual giant, I believe he would

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resent with every atom of his being the fact that there were those who put him on a pedestal

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and looked upon him as being absolute perfection.

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All he needed to do was read the word of God and see how often he told of his own weakness,

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his own failures, and the constant battle that he was having between the flesh and the

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spirit.

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Paul claimed no perfection.

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You cannot prove to me from the word of God, you cannot show me one word where Paul claimed

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absolute perfection.

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It was always the battle between the spirit and the flesh.

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And yet right here from the lips of Jesus, he demands perfection.

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Pause just a minute.

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Oh, this is thrilling.

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I believe sincerely this is one of the greatest things that we could talk about today.

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I pray that it shall revolutionize your entire life, and I mean just exactly that.

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Remember something.

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You can never take a verse of scripture out of its setting.

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That's the reason that we have false doctrine today.

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It's because there have been those who have taken just a portion of one verse or they

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have taken one verse of scripture out of its setting, out of its continuity.

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They have not regarded that which has preceded that portion of the word of God or that which

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followed.

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They've just lifted it completely out of its continuity and have built a doctrine around

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it.

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You cannot do that with the word of God.

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Therefore, to get the true meaning of this which was demanded of Jesus, the true meaning

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of that which he was speaking of, you must take that which precedes it.

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A little earlier in this sermon, he was saying, except your righteousness shall exceed the

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righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the kingdom

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of heaven.

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As an example, he quoted two commandments.

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He told us the difference in the righteousness of the scribes and the Pharisees regarding

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that commandment and then the righteousness that exceeds.

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This righteousness goes further than the commandment.

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This second righteousness is that which is expected of the Christian.

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Prior to this commandment be perfect.

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I give you his word.

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Ye have heard that it hath been said, an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.

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But I say unto you that ye resist not evil, but whosoever shall smite thee on thy right

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cheek, turn to him the other also.

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And if any man will sue thee at the law and take away thy coat, let him have thy cloak

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also.

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And whosoever shall compel thee to go a mile, go with him twain.

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If to him that asketh thee and from him that would borrow of thee turneth thou away.

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Ye have heard that it hath been said, and here comes the law, thou shalt love thy neighbor

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and hate thine enemy.

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But I say unto you, love your enemies.

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I'm giving you the word of God.

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Ask them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully

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use you and persecute you, that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven.

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Now, pause just a minute.

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He's using the love of his Father as an example.

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And what is the love of God really like?

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He gives you the Father as an example.

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For he maketh his Son to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just

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and on the unjust.

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Do you want to know what real love is like?

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Oh, beloved, pause a minute.

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Here's God.

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The mighty God of this universe, below is a man, a product of his creation, a man who

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is dependent on Almighty God for the next beat of his heart, for the next breath that

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he takes.

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And yet, he'll use that breath to curse God, to belittle him, to malign him, to curse him,

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literally curse the one upon whom he is dependent for the next beat of his heart and the next

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breath that he takes in his body.

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And yet, God in his tender mercy will let the same gentle rain fall upon him as he allows

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that rain to gently fall upon that one who praises him with every breath that he takes.

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Do you want to know what God is really like?

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The farmer out here who never gives God a thought, who's never served God a day in his

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life, the Lord's day can come and yet he does not respect or reverence God enough to set

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that day apart in worship.

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But so great is the love of the Heavenly Father that at the end of July the corn is six feet

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tall.

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For the Heavenly Father has permitted his Son to shine just as gently, just as powerfully,

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just as strong in his life-giving obedience upon that man's cornfield as upon the one

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who joins his property, who is a Christian and worships God and keeps that day holy unto

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the Lord.

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Watch it.

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That is an example that Jesus gave of perfect love.

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Yes, ma'am.

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For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye?

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Do not even the publicans the same?

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Oh, it's the easiest thing in the world to love those who are kind to you, who are nice

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to you.

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It's the easiest thing in the world to love somebody when you know they love you.

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You know that neighbor over there on the right?

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Oh, they're lovely people.

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They're the nicest folk.

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It takes no effort whatsoever to love them and you will receive no reward whatsoever

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because you're kind and gracious and you make a good neighbor to them.

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But I say to you, what about that neighbor on the left?

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Oh, you say, they're the worst folk.

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We just ignore them completely.

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We just act as though they don't live there.

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We just forget about them.

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To be very frank, Miss Kuhlman, we don't even speak.

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It's exactly what Jesus is talking about.

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Just exactly.

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For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye?

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Do not even the publicans the same?

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And yet, you profess to be a Christian.

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This love that Jesus is talking about here goes beyond the law and that's one thing you

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cannot legislate.

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I don't care how much legislation they can do in Washington, they will never be able

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to legislate love.

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You can't do it.

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You can't put a law into effect that will force men and women to love.

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You can't do it.

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You just can't do it.

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It's something that's on the inside of you.

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Something that God has got to put in there.

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It's something you can't define, but it's something that really governs the whole world.

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There's love, there's hate.

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And as long as there's hate, we'll have revolution.

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Legislate all you want to, pass all the laws that you want to.

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You cannot legislate.

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You cannot put into effect a law that's going to govern hate and love.

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Anyone holds the answer to the crisis in our nation today.

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Just one.

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That's Jesus Christ.

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Do you want to know what this perfection is that Jesus was talking about?

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Not any righteousness that you have, not any righteousness that I have.

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Know that.

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If I were to come before the Father's throne this very moment and say to him, I have a

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right to certain things because of all the sick bodies that have been healed and all

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those who have been converted through the ministry, he would only smile and say, you

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didn't have a thing to do with it.

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Not a thing.

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It was the power of the Holy Ghost that healed those sick bodies.

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It was a convicting power of the Holy Spirit that spoke to the heart of every man and every

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woman who knelt at that altar.

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I have no righteousness that I can come before the Father's throne and claim whatsoever.

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None.

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Every bit of fruit from this ministry is nothing more or less than the work of God, the work

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of the Holy Spirit.

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You've only furnished the vessel, the mouthpiece.

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Our own righteousness is as filthy rags.

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I can claim no perfection.

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The perfection that Jesus was talking about was perfect loss.

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And he went a little further by saying, by this shall all men know that ye are my disciples

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if ye have love one to another.

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Amen.