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Turn with me please to the book of Romans.

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We're going to take up our text where we left it last week.

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We begin with verse 30 of Romans chapter 9 and conclude with chapter 10 verse 13.

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The title of the message is Two Ways to Heaven.

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As I explained last week, before you execute me for false teaching, would you please listen

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to what I want to say about this subject of two ways to heaven and how the apostle Paul

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seems to be suggesting that here.

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Beginning in verse 30 he says, what shall we say then?

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The Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness attained righteousness, even the righteousness

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which is by faith.

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But Israel pursuing a law of righteousness did not arrive at that law.

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Why?

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Because they did not pursue it by faith as though it were by works, but as though it

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were by works.

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They stumbled over the stumbling stone.

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Just as it is written, behold, I lay in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense,

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and he who believes in him will not be disappointed.

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Brethren, my heart's desire and my prayer to God for them is for their salvation.

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For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not in accordance with knowledge.

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For not knowing about God's righteousness and seeking to establish their own, they did

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not subject themselves to the righteousness of God.

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For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

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And Moses writes that the man who practices the righteousness which is based on law shall

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live by that righteousness.

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But the righteousness based on faith speaks thus, do not say in your heart who will ascend

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into heaven, that is to bring Christ down, or who will descend into the abyss, that is

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to bring Christ up from the dead.

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What does it say?

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The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart.

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It is the word of faith which we are preaching, that if you confess with your mouth Jesus

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as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you shall be saved.

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For with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses,

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resulting in salvation.

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For the scripture says, whoever believes in him will not be disappointed.

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For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek.

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For the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call upon him.

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For whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved.

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There are two kinds of righteousness, works righteousness and faith righteousness.

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May I remind you that one must have righteousness to go to heaven.

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One must have righteousness to have a right standing with a holy righteous God.

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The apostle tells us that these two kinds of righteousness stand in contrast to one

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another.

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Israel illustrates for us what he calls works righteousness.

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He mentions in verse 5 of chapter 10 the righteousness which is based on law.

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He says in verse 32 of chapter 9 that Israel sought it by works.

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In verse 3 of chapter 10 it is their own righteousness.

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In contrast to that, and illustrated in believing Gentiles and in the believing Jewish remnant,

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is faith righteousness, which is described in verse 6 of chapter 10 as the righteousness

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based on faith.

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Or, back in chapter 9 verse 30, as the righteousness which is by faith.

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Mentioned again in verse 32, by faith.

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He calls it in chapter 10 verse 3, God's righteousness.

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Last week we looked at four facts about the works righteousness.

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I'd like to review those with you.

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I have included those points on today's outline in your worship folder for your convenience.

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The first fact about works righteousness that we've seen is this.

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Works righteousness is based on the principle of law.

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That is, its foundation is that it is possible for one to earn a right standing with God

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through his own self effort.

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That is the very basis of works righteousness.

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It's law keeping.

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It's earning a position before God.

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The second fact is that works righteousness feeds on human pride.

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That is, it builds esteem of the sinner for himself in his own self righteousness.

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There's nothing that builds human pride more than a good works kind of religion.

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And then thirdly, works righteousness causes one to stumble over Christ.

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For when one turns away from the righteousness which God offers to try to earn his own self

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righteousness before God, he does so and stumbles over the very Christ who could have saved

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him.

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And he stumbles to his condemnation and damnation.

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The fourth fact that we saw about works righteousness is that it brings one to condemnation by the

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law.

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The apostle says to us in verse 5, Moses writes that the man who practices the righteousness

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which is based on law shall live by that righteousness.

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In other words, although the law cannot give life, the law can sustain life where there

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is righteousness.

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But the problem is with man there is no righteousness.

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Therefore there is no life.

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Consequently, the law can only condemn him to eternal death and separation from God in

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hell.

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And so when a man seeks to gain a standing before God by keeping the law, by his works,

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by his own self effort, he ultimately only brings himself into the very condemnation

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of the law which he desires to keep.

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Now today we want to move ahead to faith righteousness illustrated by the believing Gentiles and

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Jewish remnant.

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There are four contrasting facts that we want to see about faith righteousness.

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You will notice, I hope, a parallel between the four facts we just looked at and the four

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that we will study under faith righteousness.

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Faith righteousness is based on the principle of grace.

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That's fact number one.

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It is based upon, it is founded upon the principle of grace.

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That is, faith righteousness does not come to us through our personal merit or through

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our self effort, but it is something that we simply receive as a free gift from God.

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May I remind you of a verse that we covered several months ago back in chapter three of

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the book of Romans.

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In verse 24 of that chapter, the Lord says, being justified as a gift, as a free gift,

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by his grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus.

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It is a free gift to us, but it is not free on the part of God to offer it.

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It cost God dearly the sacrifice of his own son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

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But because of that sacrifice, that redemption in Jesus Christ, God's grace now offers to

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us the free gift of justification or righteousness with God, being made right with God so we

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can go to heaven.

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We talk about being saved by grace.

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I fear that in our day the word grace has been perverted in its meaning.

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Satan loves to take Bible terminology and to give a new definition to it so that as

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key words are used, they are recognized, but sometimes those who use them mean something

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else than what the Bible means.

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There are those who have the idea that grace is something we accumulate, that as we do

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certain things we earn grace that we can offer to God.

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So they say, well yes, we are saved by grace and that grace is something we have to get.

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We might compare it to brownie points.

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We earn this in order to impress another.

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There are those who think that by being baptized they are somehow gaining grace with God.

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We tonight are going to observe the Lord's Supper.

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You will notice we do not call that a sacrament.

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And that is because the word sacrament connotes the idea of somehow gaining favor, gaining

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grace with God by doing this.

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And the Lord's Supper is not a sacrament.

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It does not gain us grace with God.

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It is an ordinance, a commandment given to us by Jesus Christ to observe.

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But it is not a sacrament.

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There are those who have ideas about other kinds of sacraments and by doing these things

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they sincerely believe they gain grace with God.

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My friend, if you study what the word grace means in the Bible, it means just the opposite

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of earning brownie points with God.

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Grace is not something we earn.

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Grace is something that we receive freely from God.

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It means God's kindness to those who do not deserve it.

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So please understand when I say that faith righteousness is based upon the principle

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of grace.

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I mean that it is given to us freely from God because we believe him, not because we

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have earned enough merit to deserve it.

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Now there is a second fact we need to see about faith righteousness.

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It is that it brings one to humility before God.

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In chapter 10 verse 3, Paul says, For not knowing about God's righteousness and seeking

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to establish their own, the Israelites did not subject themselves to the righteousness

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of God.

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Those very sincere religious Jews of that day were seeking somehow to establish as a

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monument their own righteousness.

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And by that to say, God, look here what I did, they were unwilling to subject themselves.

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You see, when we come to God and ask for his righteousness by faith, it means that we must

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humble ourselves and realize that we are unworthy.

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I am reminded of that instance that Jesus told about in Luke chapter 18 when two men

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came into the temple to pray.

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The one man, a very proud, religious, and sincere man, said, God, I thank you that I

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am not like everybody else, all of the sinners out there, and especially like this man, this

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publican, and he offered unto God his sacrifice and went away to his house as condemned before

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God as when he went in.

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Then Jesus said, the other man prayed, and he said, Lord, be merciful to me, the sinner.

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And Jesus Christ said, that man went down to his house justified, that is, declared

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right with God.

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Why?

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Because that man was willing to recognize his personal sinfulness, and he humbled himself

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before God and cried out for mercy, knowing there was nothing that he could do in himself

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to earn his way with God.

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The Apostle Paul parallels this in his own testimony in Philippians 3.

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For he lists there in that passage all the things he could boast about.

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He was born a Jew of the tribe of Benjamin, and so on and so on.

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He said, all of these things that were gained to me, those I have counted as loss for the

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sake of Christ.

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He said, I turn from those things and receive righteousness by faith.

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How opposite that is to man's attitude, who says, I am the master of my faith.

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I am the captain of my soul.

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That is the attitude of proud man, but that pride leads to destruction.

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It leads to hell.

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Robert Murray McShane was passing out tracts one day.

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He handed one to a very well-dressed lady.

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She took it, saw what it was, and then hovely looked back at him and said, sir, you must

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not know who I am.

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That godly Presbyterian pastor simply replied, madam, there is a day of judgment coming,

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but on that day it won't matter who you are.

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You see the point?

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If we are going to be right with God, it begins here with humility, bringing ourselves to

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God as sinners, deserving nothing and receiving from God the free gift of grace and righteousness

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which he offers.

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That brings us to the third truth.

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Faith righteousness comes through the simple act of believing in Christ.

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At least nine times in the text we have read, the word faith or believe are used.

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For instance, in verse 33 he quotes from the Old Testament, he who believes in him.

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In who?

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The stone that was laid in Zion.

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He who believes in him will not be disappointed.

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I see this truth illustrated back in Luke chapter 7.

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I want you to turn there with me as we see that this righteousness with God comes through

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the simple act of believing in Christ.

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In Luke chapter 7, verse 36, we have a very interesting incident in the life of the Lord

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Jesus.

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One of the Pharisees, one of these very proud and self-righteous religious leaders of the

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Jews, was requesting him, Jesus, to dine with him.

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Jesus entered into the Pharisee's house and reclined at the table.

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Behold, there was a woman in that city who was a sinner.

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When she learned that he was reclining at the table in the Pharisee's house, she brought

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an alabaster vial of perfume.

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Standing behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and kept

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wiping them with the hair of her head and kissing his feet and anointing them with the

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perfume.

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You must understand that when they ate in that day, they would recline on pillows before

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a very low table and the feet would be stretched out behind the person next to you.

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This woman came in and saw where Jesus was, went to him, and burst into tears.

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As the tears flooded down her cheeks, she took her hands and wiped the feet of Jesus

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to get the dust off.

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She began to use her hair as a towel and wiped his feet even further and kissed them, and

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then took some of the perfume and poured it upon the feet of the Lord Jesus.

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When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, if this man were

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a prophet, he would know who and what sort of person this woman is who is touching him,

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that she is a sinner.

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That word sinner was a word meaning that she was a prostitute.

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She was a woman of the street.

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Jesus answered and said to him, you know, Simon said if he knew who this was, that would

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prove he was a prophet.

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Obviously, he doesn't know who she is.

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But the fact that Jesus was of God was proved by the fact that he read the mind of Simon.

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Simon didn't speak those words out loud.

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He said it to himself.

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Jesus answered him though and said, Simon, I want to say something to you.

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Well, say on, teacher.

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A certain money lender had two debtors, one owed 500 denarii and the other 50.

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When they were unable to repay, he graciously forgave them both.

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Which of them therefore will love him more?

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Simon answered and said, I suppose the one he forgave more.

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He said to him, you've answered correctly.

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Turning toward the woman, he said to Simon, do you see this woman?

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Well, I guess he did.

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I entered your house.

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You gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them

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with her hair.

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You gave me no kiss, but she, since the time I came in, has not ceased to kiss my feet.

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You did not anoint my head with oil, but she anointed my feet with perfume.

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For this reason I say to you, her sins, which are many, have been forgiven.

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For she loved much, but he who is forgiven little loves little.

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And he said to her, your sins have been forgiven.

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Now there are those who would say, well, surely her sins were forgiven because of what she

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did.

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She wiped his feet.

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She offered to him this perfume.

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Oh no, my friend, it was not her works.

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Read on.

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Those who were reclining at the table with him began to say to themselves, who is this

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man?

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Who even forgives sins?

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And he said to the woman, your faith has saved you.

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Go in peace.

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What was it that saved that woman that day?

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Was it her tears?

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Was it the perfume that she offered?

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Was it her wiping of Jesus' feet?

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Oh no, no.

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Jesus makes it clear that she was saved.

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Her sins were forgiven her that day because of her faith.

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And she did what she did because she had believed.

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You see, this woman received faith righteousness.

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That is, she was made right with God because she believed.

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She believed.

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You say, oh, that's too simple.

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There are people who believe it is too simple to just believe and receive from God the gift

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of salvation.

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Surely.

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I mean, the logic tells you there has to be more involved than that.

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I'm reminded of a story that shows how often we overlook the simple.

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There was a man who was bothered with a continual ringing in his ears and bulging eyes and a

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red face.

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Over a period of three years, he went to doctor after doctor.

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One of them took out his tonsils and another took out his appendix.

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One pulled out all of his teeth.

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They all pulled out his pocketbook.

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Another one sent him to Switzerland for a special treatment, all to no avail.

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And then one final doctor told the poor fellow to quit his job because he only had six months

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to live.

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He had a hopeless condition.

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Well, the man deciding that that was so sold everything that he had and decided to live

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it up for six months before he died.

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And one of the things he wanted more than anything else was to have a suit that was

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nicely tailored and some shirts that would fit him.

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And so he went to the tailor and the tailor was measuring him up and giving the sizes

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to his assistant.

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And finally he got to his neck where he was giving him the size for the shirt and he said,

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16 and a half.

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And the man said, oh no, no, 15 and a half.

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And the tailor measured again and said, sir, it's 16 and a half.

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And the man said, I have worn 15 and a half shirts all my life and I'm not going to change

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now.

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Ah, said the tailor, you can have them, but don't blame me if your eyes bulge and your

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face gets red and you have ringing in your ears.

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How like that man we are.

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We overlook the simple trying to find the hard solution when my friend, righteousness

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with God comes by the simple act of trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ.

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Then there's a fourth fact that I want us to see regarding faith righteousness.

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It is that faith righteousness terminates the reign of the law.

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Before one comes to Jesus Christ by faith, he is under the dominion of law.

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The very law he sometimes seeks to fulfill is the law that condemns him because he cannot

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perfectly fulfill it.

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But when one comes to Jesus Christ by faith and receives him, the law is terminated in

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regard to him.

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Back in Romans chapter 10 and verse 4, it says Christ is the end, the termination of

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the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

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So no longer are we subjected to ceremonial laws where we bring animals to sacrifice on

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an altar and we have a priesthood and we observe days and feasts during the year.

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No longer can the law condemn us because of our inability in ourselves to keep its holy,

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righteous, and good moral precepts.

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But rather Jesus Christ has offered the ultimate sacrifice and fulfilled all the others.

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He has paid the price for the law's curse so that now in Jesus Christ, as it says in

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chapter 7 verse 6, we have been released from the law.

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It no longer has any dominion over us.

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This faith righteousness is the only righteousness that will take a person to heaven because

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our sin rules out the possibility of the other way of works righteousness.

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Since works righteousness cannot be saved because all have sinned and therefore are

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disqualified, it is encouraging to note in our text that the good news, the gospel of

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this faith righteousness is available to the whole world, not for a few.

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I want you to notice in verses 6 and 7 that in the first place this faith righteousness

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is based upon a finished work of Jesus Christ.

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He says the righteousness based on faith speaks thus, do not say in your heart who will ascend

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to heaven, that is to bring Christ down, who will descend into the abyss, that is to bring

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Christ up from the dead.

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Here the Apostle Paul is drawing upon Deuteronomy chapter 30 where Moses speaks about the revelation

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of God to his people in that day, the law.

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Here the Holy Spirit takes those words and applies them to God's completed revelation

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in Jesus Christ.

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He says there is no need for anyone to go up to heaven and bring Christ down again.

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He came once.

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It is not necessary for him to die and go into the abyss and for someone to go and

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get him.

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He died for sin once and he was raised from the dead once and for all.

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It is a completed work.

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So faith righteousness is based upon that completed work of the Lord Jesus Christ.

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We need do nothing.

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There is no work that we have to do.

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Verse 8, he tells us it is an accessible message.

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It is close.

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It is not remote.

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He says what does it say?

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The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart.

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Could not be closer than that.

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He says that is the word of faith.

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We are preaching.

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The gospel message my friend is not a remote message.

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It is not far off.

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Rather it is available.

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You do not have to do something in order to be worthy to receive the gospel.

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You do not have to turn over a new leaf and then get saved.

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You cannot do that.

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You do not have to join the church or be baptized and then trust Jesus.

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No.

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The gospel message is near you.

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It is accessible.

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It is available to you right where you are this morning.

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All you have to do is to trust the Savior.

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Verses 9 and 10, if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord, that is if you recognize

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his deity and you believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you shall be

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saved with the heart man believes resulting in righteousness, with the mouth he confesses

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resulting in salvation.

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Notice by the way the parallelism.

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Verse 8, the mouth, the heart, verse 9, the mouth, verse 10, the heart, the mouth.

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What he says here does not mean that there are two steps to salvation, believing and

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then public profession of faith.

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What he is saying is the two always go together.

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That when one believes in the heart it is exposed through the mouth.

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That is the point.

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It is like two sides to one coin.

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He says when we believe in our heart it results in our being right with God and with our mouth

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we declare I have been saved.

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I have been saved.

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It gives a certain future, verse 11, whoever believes in him will not be disappointed.

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The thought there is that there is not going to be any future embarrassment because God

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is going to fail.

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Jesus Christ promises that the one who believes on him will someday arrive safely in heaven.

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Not one person who believes on him is ever going to be disappointed in that promise.

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Verses 12 and 13 we see it is a universal offer.

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It is not just for the Jews.

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It is not just for the Gentiles.

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He says there is no distinction.

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The same Lord is Lord of all.

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Abounding in riches for all who call upon him.

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Whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved.

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Back in chapter 3 verse 23 we saw the all that says that all are sinners without exception.

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Here we see the all that says all may be saved without distinction.

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Whoever will call, that word call is an interesting word in Acts 25 verse 11.

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It is used in the phrase where Paul says, I appeal to Caesar.

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He says I appeal to a higher court.

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I call out to Caesar to judge my case.

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He had that right as a Roman citizen.

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And here is the thought.

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So you stand before the law as your judge.

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And it says to you have you kept a perfect standard of righteousness in your life?

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And you have to respond, well no.

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It says then you are guilty, you are condemned, you must die and spend eternity separated

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from God in hell.

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What is your only recourse?

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What the law has said is true.

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You may appeal to the Lord Jesus Christ.

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When you realize that you are a sinner, condemned and worthy of guilt and of hell, you may then

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appeal to the Lord Jesus Christ and call upon him and he will save you.

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And that is a universal offer.

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It is good for you as well as for the man on the mission field and some other part of

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the world.

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Just last week there was a man in a southern state who was executed.

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When I heard the crime that he had committed, a wave of nausea and anger went through me.

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I am not even going to speak about it this morning.

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It is so despicable and heinous as far as I am concerned.

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For that crime he was sentenced to death in the gas chamber.

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And he got what he deserved as far as the law is concerned, the law of our land.

401
00:33:06,560 --> 00:33:13,320
When I heard what he did, I thought to myself, and I must confess this, I thought to myself

402
00:33:13,320 --> 00:33:22,000
that fellow deserves the hottest fires of hell that he is in.

403
00:33:22,000 --> 00:33:29,120
And then I heard that sometime during his imprisonment a little church in that town

404
00:33:29,120 --> 00:33:35,840
where the prison is went into the prison and ministered to those prisoners.

405
00:33:35,840 --> 00:33:46,600
And this fellow who had committed a horrible crime to a little three-year-old girl trusted

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00:33:46,600 --> 00:33:48,720
the Lord Jesus Christ as his Savior.

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That was his profession.

408
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I hope that is true.

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00:33:55,480 --> 00:33:59,360
And assuming he did that, my friend, I want you to know something.

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00:33:59,360 --> 00:34:10,080
Though the law of the state gave him what he deserved, the law of God did not give him

411
00:34:10,080 --> 00:34:16,000
what he deserved, but that was given to the Lord Jesus at the cross.

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Lord Jesus paid for his sin.

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And that young man today, assuming what he said was true, that he had trusted Christ

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and had been born again, that young man is in heaven today.

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00:34:29,840 --> 00:34:35,120
And then I reflected upon the fact that here I am, I condemn him, but the sin in my own

416
00:34:35,120 --> 00:34:43,280
life causes me to be just as worthy of the hottest fires of hell as him.

417
00:34:43,280 --> 00:34:46,800
Who am I to point a finger?

418
00:34:46,800 --> 00:34:52,720
And we condemn the Russians for their despicable act this week in shooting down that aircraft.

419
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And it is unspeakably shameful and should alert us to the real nature of communism.

420
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But before we condemn them too harshly, let us remember that they are not animals in Russia.

421
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They are the sons of Adam, just like you and me.

422
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There is no sin of which any of us is incapable, but for the grace of God.

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Last week, remember I shared with you a letter from Willie, that prisoner out in Arizona

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00:35:30,240 --> 00:35:33,840
who had killed 16 or 17 people.

425
00:35:33,840 --> 00:35:42,200
He was born a Jew, practiced the Jewish religion to some degree, but last February, through

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00:35:42,200 --> 00:35:46,800
the ministry of some people, he came to faith in Jesus Christ.

427
00:35:46,800 --> 00:35:51,480
I shared with you the first letter that he wrote about his faith.

428
00:35:51,480 --> 00:35:56,440
I have here a copy of a second letter he wrote just two weeks after that first letter I read

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00:35:56,440 --> 00:35:58,440
to you last week.

430
00:35:58,440 --> 00:36:04,440
There was a time when I felt physically ill, says Willie.

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00:36:04,440 --> 00:36:09,040
I felt physically ill almost constantly, and I know this was caused from the guilt I was

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feeling over the destruction I caused.

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00:36:12,200 --> 00:36:14,800
Jesus has lifted me.

434
00:36:14,800 --> 00:36:22,200
If nothing else, this one thing would make a life devoted to Christ an absolute necessity.

435
00:36:22,200 --> 00:36:26,320
I don't understand why everybody I talk to seems so interested in the material things

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00:36:26,320 --> 00:36:28,680
that Jesus might do for them.

437
00:36:28,680 --> 00:36:32,480
It's like if Christ won't give them all the little things they want, then they are

438
00:36:32,480 --> 00:36:37,480
not interested in hearing about it, and when I try to explain the peace that I have received,

439
00:36:37,480 --> 00:36:39,000
they act as if that is unimportant.

440
00:36:39,000 --> 00:36:42,720
I will never understand this.

441
00:36:42,720 --> 00:36:48,120
I have lived the last ten years in a literal hell on earth, and even though my body is

442
00:36:48,120 --> 00:36:53,320
still held here, it no longer has the power to torment me.

443
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I have been set free in the truest sense of the word.

444
00:36:56,840 --> 00:37:03,280
It is as if you, Wes, gave me the key to this prison when you gave me your Bible, and that

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00:37:03,280 --> 00:37:10,160
key has unlocked all the prisons that had kept me confined and bound in sin.

446
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Isn't that great?

447
00:37:13,800 --> 00:37:18,460
I'm talking to some people this morning who are still bound in the prison of sin in

448
00:37:18,460 --> 00:37:20,520
your own life.

449
00:37:20,520 --> 00:37:23,440
And Jesus Christ is the key to that.

450
00:37:23,440 --> 00:37:25,760
He can release you.

451
00:37:25,760 --> 00:37:28,200
You can gain an entrance to heaven.

452
00:37:28,200 --> 00:37:34,160
You can be right with God, but there is only one way that you are qualified for.

453
00:37:34,160 --> 00:37:39,780
Work's righteousness is out because you are a sinner, but you can gain faith righteousness

454
00:37:39,780 --> 00:37:43,340
with God by trusting the Lord Jesus Christ.

455
00:37:43,340 --> 00:37:48,760
If you will appeal your case to Him, you shall be saved.

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Let's pray.

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00:37:53,520 --> 00:37:57,920
Father, thank you for this truth.

458
00:37:57,920 --> 00:38:01,200
If it were not for your grace, none of us would be saved here this morning.

459
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Don't ever let us forget that.

460
00:38:05,560 --> 00:38:11,940
For that one who is still outside of Christ, oh Father, today, today may that one open

461
00:38:11,940 --> 00:38:18,440
his heart and receive the Savior, trust Christ to be saved.

462
00:38:18,440 --> 00:38:24,640
Only all of us who have made that decision live as we ought to.

463
00:38:24,640 --> 00:38:27,360
Would you sing with me?

464
00:38:27,360 --> 00:38:45,840
Into my heart, into my heart, come into my heart, Lord Jesus.

465
00:38:45,840 --> 00:39:06,720
Come into day, come into stay, come into my heart, Lord Jesus.

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Take all of my heart, all of my heart, take all of my heart, Lord Jesus.

467
00:39:25,920 --> 00:39:44,880
Take all today, take all I pray, take all of my heart, Lord Jesus.

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00:39:44,880 --> 00:39:51,920
Father, whether lost or saved here today, may we have meant those words as we have sung

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00:39:51,920 --> 00:39:55,320
them, in Jesus' name.

470
00:39:55,320 --> 00:39:57,480
Would you take your hymnal and turn, please, to number two?