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Thank you, Mark, for that soul, yesu, joy of man's desiring, one of the most beautiful

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and beloved of compositions.

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Would you take your Bible and turn with me now to Romans chapter 9.

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While you're looking down, I'm going to inadvertently remove my coat, so don't look up yet.

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Romans chapter 9, verses 1 through 5, will be our text today.

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Yes we are moving through Romans.

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This proves it.

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See, we're starting a new chapter today.

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I think some of you thought that we were going to stay in Romans chapter 8 until the tribulation.

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Our text today begins a new section of the book of Romans.

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It says, I am telling the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience bearing me witness

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in the Holy Spirit, that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart.

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For I could wish that I myself were accursed, separated from Christ, for the sake of my

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brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh, who are Israelites, to whom belongs the adoption

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of sons, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the temple

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service, and the promises, whose are the fathers, and from whom is the Christ according to the

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flesh, who is over all, God blessed forever.

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Amen.

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This begins a new section dealing with the nation of Israel and the fact that that nation

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rejected the righteousness which God offered to her.

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This text comes after the great statement at the end of chapter 8 dealing with God's

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unchanging eternal purpose for us and the security that we have as believers in Jesus

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Christ as far as our destiny is concerned.

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And that's significant that it comes at this point because chapters 9, 10, and 11 are not

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parentheses as some commentators seem to think, but rather these chapters form an integral

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part of the Apostle Paul's argument.

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You see his thought process is this, we have been destined by God and are secure in that

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destiny to be just like Jesus Christ and to be heirs with him in his eternal kingdom.

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But Israel too was chosen and Israel too had promises and yet Israel was set aside by God

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in judgment.

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What happened?

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Did God fail?

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Did God change his mind with Israel?

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If so, how do we know that God won't change his mind regarding us?

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Was God's purpose frustrated with Israel?

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If it was, then how do we know that God's purpose for us too will not be frustrated?

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You see at this point the Apostle Paul wants to underscore the character of God because

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it's at stake, at least in the minds of some people.

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And so he talks about Israel and her rejection of the righteousness of God which he made

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available to that nation.

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In chapter 9 he looks at Israel's past and the election that she had of God.

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In chapter 10 he surveys the present situation of Israel, her rejection.

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And then in chapter 11 he moves to the future and talks about Israel's restoration to

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her destined purpose.

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As we study these chapters you and I are going to discover that our security rests upon a

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God who is absolutely trustworthy because he is sovereign.

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As it says in chapter 11 verse 29, the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.

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As the Apostle works his way into that theme, he begins in these five verses by sharing

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with us his own heart.

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He unveils a burdened heart.

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In verse 1 he explains to us the integrity of his burden.

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Paul says, I am telling the truth.

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I am not lying.

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Paul was a man who could be trusted.

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And doesn't it seem rather strange to you that he would make a comment like this?

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I'm telling you the truth.

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I'm not lying.

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As a matter of fact, Paul had to say something like that many times in his letters.

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For example, in chapter 1 verse 9 of this very book he says, God is my witness.

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And he says that a number of times in his epistles.

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He says in 2 Corinthians 11, 10, the truth of Christ is in me.

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Galatians 1, 20, before God I am not lying.

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Jesus, Timothy 2, 7, I am telling the truth.

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I am not lying.

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2 Corinthians 11, 30, God knows that I am not lying.

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Why would the Apostle Paul have to over and over again assert his own integrity?

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It was because Satan did his utmost to undermine Paul's integrity in the minds of those people.

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You see he knows that if he can undermine the trustworthiness, the honesty, the integrity

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of the leadership, he can lead the people astray.

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So there were Judaizers and there were other false teachers who went around saying Paul

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can't be trusted.

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He writes one way to you but when he's with you he's another way.

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He says he's coming for a visit but he hasn't showed up yet, has he?

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So you see in various ways they tried to attack Paul's integrity.

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And so he again and again asserted the fact that he could be trusted.

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Leadership has to be trusted.

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When leadership for some reason proves that it can't be, it needs to be replaced.

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Leadership has to be trustworthy.

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And we as a people must guard ourselves against any tactic that Satan may use to wrongly get

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us to distrust our leaders.

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Satan constantly works that angle.

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Sad to say though that this whole idea of integrity is more rare today than many of

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us might like to think.

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The apostle Paul certifies the fact that he can be trusted by two statements that he

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uses in verse 1.

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He says, I am telling the truth in Christ.

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He reminds them of his union with Jesus Christ that he's in Christ who said I am the way,

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the truth and the life.

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About whom it is said the truth is in Jesus.

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You see Paul is in union with one who is the truth.

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He's not going to be a liar.

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He is not going to exaggerate.

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He's not going to shade the truth in some way.

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He says I am speaking the truth as one who is united to Jesus Christ who is the truth.

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Furthermore he says I am not lying, my conscience bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit.

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So not only does he point to his union with Christ but to the witness of his conscience

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as certifications for his integrity.

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The conscience will either accuse or it will acquit.

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The apostle says that his conscience is under the control of the Holy Spirit and his conscience

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gave him a clean bill.

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It passed this statement as being truthful.

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It did not convict him.

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Paul's conscience was good.

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Is your conscience good?

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My friend a good conscience is a rich treasure to be desired and to be kept as precious.

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In writing to Timothy the apostle says hold faith and a good conscience.

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Both are important.

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Frankly it's easier to keep the faith and to be evangelical than it is to keep a good

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conscience.

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Just look around you and see those who are evangelical and orthodox in doctrine but who

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in some ways have proven that their consciences are not very active.

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We need a balance of both dear people because even though we may have sound doctrine if

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we have a weak conscience inevitably we will be led to false teaching.

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We will make shipwreck of the faith.

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So hold on to your faith, your doctrine, and hold on to a good conscience.

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Don't allow it to become seared by overriding it.

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Don't allow it to become inactive by ignoring it but rather listen to it and let the Holy

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Spirit speak to you through your conscience.

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He did Paul.

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Paul says I'm telling you the truth.

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A couple of applications from verse 1.

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Have a genuine burden in your work for the Lord as did Paul.

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We are living in a day when people go through motions without any emotion.

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It is easy to preach a sermon without feeling it in the heart.

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It is easy to teach a Sunday school lesson without having its meaning down in one's

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own life.

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It's easy to get up and sing and make it a production instead of a ministry.

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It's easy to witness out of a sense of obligation or guilt rather than a true burden of spirit.

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So in your work for the Lord have a genuine burden.

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As you see, God blesses the one who serves him with brokenness of heart.

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Is your heart broken?

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Do you have a burdened spirit for those that you minister to?

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As you work in the nursery or as you help in a Sunday school class or as you go calling,

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as you witness to that person in the office or your neighbor across the fence in the backyard,

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does it really make any difference to you that there are results that God works or are

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you just going through the motions saying I'm working for the Lord?

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Paul had a burden about him and dear people we need burden today.

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We need burden in Grace Church Roseville in our work for God.

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If we don't have it, our work doesn't amount to a hill of beans.

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And then the second application would be this.

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Conform your speech to the mold of honesty.

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Guard against exaggeration and hyperbole.

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Preachers are the greatest at this.

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How many did you have in church Sunday?

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Oh about a thousand.

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How many was it?

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Well about 800 and 77 let's say.

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But we're working toward a thousand.

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Just stretching the truth a little bit.

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How many sales did you make?

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Well, guard against exaggeration.

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Guard against deceit.

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Guard against misrepresentation.

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Guard against shading the truth in some way so that you can get what you want.

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How easy it is to be dishonest and to write it off as being well so what.

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Especially in the day in which we live.

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When your parents say what time did you get in last night as if they didn't know.

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Where have you been?

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Who were you with?

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Be honest.

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Say what you mean and mean what you say.

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Let your word be your pledge.

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I hear people from time to time who are frustrated even within our own church because they'll

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have a sign up list for something and 25 people maybe will sign up and 10 show up.

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And the other 15 people did not have the integrity to call up and say look I signed but I can't

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come because of.

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That's dishonest.

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We need the men and women whose word is our pledge.

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When we sign something or when we give our consent to something, mean it so that people

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can know we can be trusted.

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It's part of Christian character.

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Is that application enough?

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Well, let's move ahead.

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The apostle Paul begins by talking about the integrity of his burden.

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He says I am telling you the truth, I am not lying.

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Then he tells us of the intensity of his burden, verses 2 and 3.

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He says I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart.

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This is the same man who wrote rejoice in the Lord always.

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And yet he testifies I have great sorrow.

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Is that a contradiction?

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No, not at all.

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For one can rejoice in the Lord and still have great sorrow as does Paul here.

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As he writes these words he reminds me of the Old Testament prophet whom?

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Who is the weeping prophet, Jeremiah, who prophesied to Judah when that nation was carried

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away.

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And again and again in his book you read of the tears he shed because of his burden for

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the people of God and the destruction of the temple in the city of Jerusalem.

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A weeping prophet.

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And here Paul is a weeping apostle.

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Reminds me of the Lord Jesus Christ just a few days before his crucifixion when he came

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over the hill, the Mount of Olives, and saw the city of Jerusalem laid out before him

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there on that next hilltop.

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And he burst into tears and he said oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often I would have gathered

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you like a mother hen does with her chicks but you would not.

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And then he told of judgment that was to come.

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And he wept, he wept.

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And Paul says here I have a great weight of sorrow.

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Speaking about the grief in his mind he says I have continual heartache.

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And that may imply physical connotation there.

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That his grief, his sorrow affected him even physically.

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The death of his commitment was such that he could say in verse 3 I could wish that

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I myself were accursed.

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Separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren.

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You see the apostle Paul is saying here if it were possible, and the way that he phrases

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is idiomatic, it's not something that's possible, but he says if I could, I could

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wish myself anathema, separated from Christ.

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That's impossible because in chapter 8 he's already said nothing in all of creation can

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separate us from the love of God in Jesus Christ.

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But he said if it were possible I would be willing to, get this, he says I would be willing

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to go to hell.

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To be separated from Jesus Christ to lose my salvation.

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If only that could bring my brethren to the Savior.

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In this he reminds me of Moses.

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Does he you?

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Exodus chapter 32, Moses came down from the mountain, here are the people of Israel, worshiping

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this golden calf, dancing naked before it, drunk, and his heart is grieved and God is

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angry.

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God threatens to destroy the nation and Moses goes before the Lord and pleads for them.

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And part of his prayer for them, he says Lord, rather than destroying the nation, if you

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would do that then just blot me out of your book.

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See he was burdened for the people that God would spare them.

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Are you burdened for anything?

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Anything that really counts?

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I fear that so often our burdens are the involvements that we have in this life, the things we want

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to buy and the things we want to accomplish.

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I believe today that you and I need to judge our uncaring hearts dear people.

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Hearts like many of us have are cause for us to examine ourselves whether we be in the

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faith.

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And I say that because how can it be that one who has been delivered from guilt and

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judgment for sin can then be thoughtless and careless and without burden for those in his

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family who are lost and his friends who are lost and those that he works with who are

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lost and strangers who are without the Savior.

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How can it make no difference to us if we are really saved?

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Does it make any difference to you that a soul is in sin under the judgment of God and

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destined for hell?

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John Stuart Mill said, one person with a belief is equal to a force of 99 who only have an

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interest.

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My fear is that too many of us only have an interest in the lost and not a conviction

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that they are bound for a Christless eternity and suffering.

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I condemn my own heart.

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I do not preach at you.

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I share with you this concern.

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How can our hearts be so cold and uncaring?

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And yet when was the last time that you could honestly pray, God if it were possible I would

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go to hell if only that person could be saved?

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Who made that much difference to you recently?

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God I would be willing to give up my salvation if only you would move in the heart of that

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person.

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When was the last time that you were at a high enough point around the Twin Cities that

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you were able to oversee your neighborhood or the metropolitan area and your heart was

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burdened because there are hundreds of thousands of people in the Twin Cities who have never

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heard the true gospel of Jesus Christ.

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A religious area, yes.

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A Christian area, no.

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Does it make any difference to you?

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Paul expresses here the intensity of a burden.

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And then he shares with us the item of his burden, the focus of it.

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He says, I am burdened for the sake of my brethren, that is my kinsmen according to

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the flesh, who are Israelites.

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He does not call them Jews.

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That is a word that has racial and political connotation.

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Rather he calls them here Israelites, meaning the people of the covenant, God's people,

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God's Old Testament people, God's chosen ones, the Israelites.

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He says they are my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh and they are in unbelief.

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He describes them further as the ones to whom belong the adoption as sons.

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Not many times, but a few times God calls Israel his sons.

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Deuteronomy 14.1, you are the sons of the Lord your God.

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That became the basis for all of his dealings with them, by the way.

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He says God chose them out to be called his sons.

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Furthermore, they had the advantage and the heritage of the glory.

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That doesn't mean a lot to you and me because we've never seen it.

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The glory, that is the Shekinah, that visible luminous appearance of the presence of God.

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I believe it was the cloud that overshadowed them in the wilderness and the pillar of fire

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at night.

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I believe that it was that glory that manifested itself at the dedication of the tabernacle

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when it had been constructed and at the dedication of the temple, the Shekinah, the visible presence

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of the glory which dwelt in the Holy of Holies.

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We'll talk more about that tonight.

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That was an advantage for them.

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Furthermore, they had the covenants, that is the agreements between God and Abraham

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and the nation of Israel, for example, the Palestinian covenant and David, the Davidic

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covenant.

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The covenants that God had established, agreements that he had established with them.

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That was their heritage.

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The Israelites also had the advantage of the giving of the law.

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That is Moses' experience in Mount Sinai.

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The law was their boast according to chapter 2, 23 of Romans.

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They boasted in the law that was their most prized possession.

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He says, furthermore, the Israelites have had the temple service.

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Not the Greeks, not the Romans, the Israelites.

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They're the ones who had the priesthood, the sacrifices, the rituals, and they had

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the promises.

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God promised them the land of Palestine.

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He promised to make them a blessing to the world.

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The promises here undoubtedly speak more directly though of the Messianic promises.

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Furthermore, he says that they had the advantage of the fathers.

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In verse 5 he says, whose are the fathers?

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In other words, the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

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He said, they can boast of being relatives of those fathers.

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Finally, he comes to the Pinnacle in his list of eight benefits and privileges enjoyed by

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the Israelites.

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He says, from whom is the Christ?

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Notice he doesn't say, as he did the fathers, whose is the Christ?

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He says, from whom is the Christ?

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The Christ does not belong to Israel.

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He belongs to the world, Jew and Gentile alike.

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But from them, physically, came the Christ.

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That is their blessing.

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And yet they were in unbelief.

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You know what this tells me?

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It tells me that privilege does not guarantee God's blessing.

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You better write that down in your heart, dear friend.

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Privilege does not guarantee God's blessing.

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Obedience brings blessing.

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I say that because, and listen, you and I who are in Jesus Christ have far superior

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privileges than those which are listed here for the Israelites.

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Before we too roundly condemn them, we had better consider how we are using the advantages

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and privileges that we have.

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Just because we have every spiritual blessing in Jesus Christ and the heavenlies does not

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mean that automatically, therefore, we are going to know blessing in this life.

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It means it's available to us if we obey.

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If we believe.

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That hymn writer put it simply but accurately when he said, trust and obey, for there is

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no other way to be happy or to be blessed in Jesus than to trust and obey.

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Does that summarize your life?

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Are you trusting?

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Are you obeying?

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As much as you understand the word of God, the will of God for your life, I'm sorry

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to tell you today that Israel failed.

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Not that God completely wiped his hands of Israel as we shall see later, but Israel failed

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in unbelief and God judged her.

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That is a burden to Paul.

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It is a burden that Israel failed in her privileges, but as we come to the last part of verse

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5, we see the real incentive of his burden, what really moved him.

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It was not just that Israel had failed to take advantage of what God had given her,

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but Israel had failed to receive her Christ.

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He says, from whom is the Christ according to the flesh that is the long anticipated

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Redeemer, the anointed one, the one prophesied of throughout their Old Testament scriptures,

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the one that they longed for who would deliver them as a people when he came, they missed

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him.

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And who is he?

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He describes him as being the one who is over all.

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They didn't just miss another prophet.

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They didn't crucify just another good moral teacher.

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They crucified the Christ who is over all in a position of absolute sovereignty over

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Jew and Gentile.

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Absolute sovereignty in judgment.

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You see the one to whom all judgment is committed, they had rejected.

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That is his burden.

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And he further says, he is God blessed forever.

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Strong statement of deity.

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Now there are some translations that change the punctuation here to what I think is an

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inferior interpretation.

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So there's kind of a doxology at the end.

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But actually what Paul is affirming here is that the Christ is God who is blessed forever,

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praised, worshiped forever.

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You see the one who is the focus of all time, the one who is the object of all worship,

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Israel had rejected.

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And in rejecting that one, they had turned themselves to judgment.

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And you see that is the case with every person who rejects Jesus Christ.

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For any man or woman who rejects Jesus Christ does that to his own damnation.

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If today you have rejected Jesus Christ as your savior and you're looking somewhere else,

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my friend you look in vain.

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And right now you are under the judgment of God.

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Your execution is coming.

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You say, oh listen preacher, I have never rejected Jesus Christ.

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I just haven't made up my mind yet.

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You see I'm not sure yet.

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The effect of that is just the same as rejection.

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For though you may not have made up your mind yet, you are still then under the judgment

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of God.

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You are condemned already, John 3.36.

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And your execution is coming.

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A greater fear to me is that having grown up in a cultural kind of Christianity, some

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of us have only a superficial faith in Jesus Christ.

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Oh sure, we believe in Jesus Christ.

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Sure, I believe he's the son of God.

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Sure, I believe he died and rose again.

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I believe all that.

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But have you ever personally received him into your life as your Lord and savior?

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Has there been that relationship established with him that brings salvation?

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That's the question.

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That's the question.

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To reject Jesus Christ is to turn away from any hope of salvation.

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Do not turn away any longer if that be your case today.

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Do not neglect any longer if that's your decision.

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Deepen that relationship beyond a superficial one to a personal, vital relationship with

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Christ.

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Do it today.

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Don't put it off any longer.

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Paul's burden was intense because of the fact that Israel had turned away from the only

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hope of her salvation.

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My Christian brother, sister, what is your heart burdened with today?

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What are you burdened with that is going to make one whit of difference a hundred years

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from now when you're dead and buried?

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So you're burdened about your job, you're burdened about the new car that you want to

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buy or your home, you're burdened about this or that.

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What are you burdened with that counts for eternity?

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What is going to make a difference when you see Jesus Christ face to face?

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You see Paul was burdened for souls.

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There's very little that we're going to take out of this world with us that will be in

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00:35:25,440 --> 00:35:26,440
heaven with us.

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But one thing is people to whom we share, with whom we share our faith and who trust

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Jesus Christ.

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Are you burdened about that neighbor next door?

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God is looking today for people who will be burdened with eternal concerns.

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Or is your heart already overburdened with temporal concerns?

408
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Is all of your burden focused on things here and now and relationships now and possibilities

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and goals now?

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May God help us.

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May God help us, dear people, in our cold and self-centeredness.

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May He help us to have concern, burden for the things that will matter forever.

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I fear that too many of us are not concerned about things that don't affect us directly.

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Unless my car breaks down, unless my home is broken into, unless my family member dies,

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when we live that way we are only reflecting the world around us.

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We are being conformed to the world.

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Our world is narcissistic, self-centered.

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If it doesn't affect me, so what?

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How sadly that is influencing so many of us.

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It may not affect you at all, but my friend, if that person who pumps your gas goes to

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hell, is that not a tragedy?

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How do you measure that kind of loss?

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For what will a man or woman gain if he has the whole world and loses his soul?

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What about that attorney who works for you?

425
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What about that uncle?

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Who are you burdened for today?

427
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Who do you want to see get saved?

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Is there anybody?

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Anybody?

430
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Let's bow together in prayer.

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With our heads bowed and our eyes closed as the Spirit of God penetrates our hearts with

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this point.

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The thing that God wants today, my friend, is a people who will be burdened with things

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that really matter.

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Will you confess the coldness of heart?

436
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The indifference that you may have?

437
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The lack of burden?

438
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Will you do that right now?

439
00:38:33,280 --> 00:38:35,760
I'm not going to ask you to lift your hand.

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I'm simply asking you to do business with God right where you're seated.

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And then are you willing to pray, Lord, I am uncaring, but I'm willing to bear that

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burden.

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I want to be concerned about those things that concern you.

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How about it?

445
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Will you pray that way?

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Heavenly Father, I pray in Jesus' name that now one of your children will leave here today

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with a heart that remains calloused and uncaring and cold.

448
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But break our hearts, Lord.

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Break our hearts with those things that break your heart.

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With that issue that broke Paul's heart, that there were those who had rejected the

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Christ, their only hope of salvation.

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May we give ourselves fully to you today, perhaps as never before, to see others come

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to faith in Jesus Christ.

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Amen.