Good day,
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we enter into God's Word,
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to discover just a little
bit more about His wonderful,
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incredible, amazing grace.
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Our journey through
God's Word, we're entitling
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"Safe and secure
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Living in the grace of God. "
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Before we begin to study,
let's bow our heads and pray.
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Gracious Heavenly
Father, we pray that we might
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comprehend just were we
are, so that we might understand
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where you want us to be.
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In Jesus' name.
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Amen.
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I'm reading from Romans
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chapter 5 starting at verse 6
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How bad is it?
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You can tell a lot
about a society by it's humor
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the things that we find
funny the things that tickle our
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funny bone
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resonate deep within.
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In humor, there is
always an element of truth.
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Something has been exaggerated
or minimized, or somehow
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parodied
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and in so doing, the tension
between the truth of it and
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the ridiculousness
of it makes us smile.
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And if that's true there
seems to be something awry with
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human society,
because there is a dark side
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to our humor.
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From Tom and
Jerry to Jerry Seinfeld
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you take a look at the things
that we laugh at, you'll find
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that there is a hint of pain.
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Even little children enjoy
watching cartoons that are very
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violent.
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How bad is it?
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The psalmist says
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In Psalm 51
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and verse 5
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In Jeremiah 17:
9, Jeremiah says:
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Is this true?
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Are we desperately wicked?
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How bad is it?
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It reminds me of an old story.
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This story is told of
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two brothers that
terrorize the community,
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they were
gangsters, horrible, cruel men,
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and they were so good at their
trade, that they were able to
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illude the police and
really do much damage in their
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community.
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Well, the story goes that
one of these two brothers died.
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Maybe in some altercation,
as he was doing his deeds,
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and the other brother came to
the priest in the town, and sais
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to the priest "Father, I'Id
like you to do the funeral for
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my brother, and I don't care
really what you do, but some
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time in that funeral I want
you to call my brother a saint.
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" So, the priest thinks about it
for a little while and he sais:
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"All right, I think I can
do that" and so the day comes,
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lo and behold there are
many people there at the funeral
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and the priest
begins his message.
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He says the man in the casket
was a vicious and cruel man,
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he was heartless and had no
pity, in fact, this community
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is better of without him,
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but compared to his brother,
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he is a saint.
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Well, you know,
the humor in that story
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is that we all
want to be saints,
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but none of us are.
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The Bible is clear,
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in God' description, of who
we are, it simply says: all have
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sinned and and fallen short
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of the glory of God.
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We're all sinners, all of
us, there's a seed of evil that
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lurks within us, it is there
from the time we have been born.
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There's nothing we can do to
remove it, in and of ourselves.
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It is part of our genetic
makeup, we inherited it from
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our first parents
and it remains with us.
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We need someone else,
to remove this from us.
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Sometimes we think,
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that the worst
criminals, the child molesters,
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the prostitutes, the alcoholics
and the drug addicts, the serial
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killers, the rapers, and all
of those other hateless crimes,
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those are really terrible,
but, indeed we all have a hint
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of that same evil.
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Matter of fact, we don't have
to look to such exotic crimes.
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Lying, gossip, pride,
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these will do.
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If we are honest with
ourselves, then we must admit
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that the prophet
Jeremiah is right.
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The heart is deceitful above all
things and desperately wicked.
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Even in the things that we laugh
at, even in the things that we
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find humor in.
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It betrays the fact that
there's something within,
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something,
something very dark within.
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How bad is it?
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How bad is sin and sinfulness?
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For unless we understand
the horror of sin, we can never
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fully understand the
beauty of God' grace.
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And assurance that we have
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in God, that He will not wait
until we are good to save us.
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But He will save
us just as we are.
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In order to understand God's
grace, we must take a good look
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at ourselves and our own
sinfulness, so here's a first
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question:
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What is sin?
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The Bible tells us in
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1st John
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1st John chapter 3 and verse 4
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Sin is totally against the Law,
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it's disregarding
or braking the Law.
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Yet, sometimes, when we think
about sin, we think that sin is
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only a set of rules.
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Rules that are only
sometimes strictly enforced.
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I remember I was speaking
at Camp Meeting and they sent a
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letter to all the pastors
reminding them that the speed
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limit of 25 mph through
town was strictly enforced.
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And I think sometimes, we
imagine that God's Law is like
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the speed limit sign.
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We can brake God's law, if
only we can get away with it
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if only no one's
looking or no one's watching us.
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However, God's law is
not like a speed limit sign.
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God's Laws are real,
they cannot easily be broken.
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I remember a story that a
professor once told me when
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I was in school.
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About a group of missionaries
that came to a particular
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group of islands in the
Pacific and it just so happened
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that the people of this island,
the women would walk around
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without any tops.
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And so, the missionary wives
did not think this was such a
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good thing.
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And so they decided that
they would buy some shirts
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and give them to
the entire community.
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The native women
wanted to enjoy these gifts.
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But, they really weren't
used to such restrictions as
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these shirts.
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And so, on the day appointed
they all arrived in church
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to hear the preacher preach.
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But all the women of the
community down their shirts
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but they cut large holes
in the front of the shirts.
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So here it was that these women
were trying to follow the rules,
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but yet did not fit into exactly
what the missionary wives had
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taught.
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It's interesting because in that
particular culture the lower leg
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was a very
sensual part of the body
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and they didn't care about the
top part of the body, but the
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lower legs, were very sensual
part of the body, and that time
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just happens to be a time that
women were wearing miniskirts
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and short skirts, and even the
missionary wives were wearing
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short skirts.
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And these women couldn't
understand how these missionary
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wives could be talking
about such a great God and yet,
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dress so immorally.
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And so here we have two
different rules, about modesty.
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Is God's law like that?
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Laws that can be altered and
changed or maybe different in
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different cultures and settings?
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Or is God's law quite different?
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The Bible says
in Romans 6 it says:
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You see, the Bible says:
"when we were without strength"
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it means that we were without
the power to keep God's law.
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And sometimes we think we have
the power to keep God's law,
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if we can just figure it out.
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But that's not the
case, we are without strength
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we can not keep God's Law,
because God's Law is real and
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not arbitrary.
00:12:21.92\00:12:22.89
It's real like the law
of magnetism that allows
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the needle to always
point towards the pole.
00:12:28.72\00:12:31.76
Like the law of gravity, that
causes objects to come to this
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earth.
00:12:36.93\00:12:37.90
You cannot ignore the needle
and still find your way home.
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You cannot walk off the
premices, and still remain
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in the air.
00:12:46.30\00:12:47.27
Those laws are real,
and so are God's laws.
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Sometimes we are giving the
impression that God's laws are
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like men's rules.
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And so, you can brake God's law.
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And God says I don't like
that and what are you guys doing
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and so, I'm gonna get you.
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I'm gonna destroy you.
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Because I don't like
you braking my rules.
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But God's law is
not like that at all.
00:13:14.60\00:13:17.64
Listen to what the Scripture
says in Galatians chapter 6
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Galatians chapter 6 and verse 7:
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Listen to what the scripture
says about sin and sinfulness:
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The one who sows in his
sinful nature, he's gonna reap
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destruction.
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And the one who sows in the
spirit, he will reap everlasting
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life.
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Let us read on:
00:14:01.97\00:14:02.94
The Bible says more in James
chapter 1, this is what it says
00:14:02.95\00:14:06.82
in verse 15:
00:14:06.85\00:14:08.35
And we also know what Romans
says, take a look at Romans
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Romans chapter 8: 13
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This is what Romans says:
00:14:30.21\00:14:31.69
You see, sin kills.
00:14:48.44\00:14:51.77
Sin is like poison.
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God is not being arbitrary,
you will die if you commit sin.
00:14:55.42\00:15:00.96
Of course we're all familiar
with that verse in Romans 6: 23
00:15:01.00\00:15:06.51
Let me read it to you in J.
P. Philips translation, this is
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what it says:
00:15:10.43\00:15:11.51
Sin, my friends, kills, and
we are powerless to do anything
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about it.
00:15:19.86\00:15:20.83
Why, because God's laws are
real, they are not arbitrary.
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And braking God's laws
always has real consequences,
00:15:27.29\00:15:32.43
like being bitten by
that poisoned serpent,
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The poison will rush through
your body, and there's nothing
00:15:38.40\00:15:42.19
that you can do to stop it
from going through your body
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and doing It's destructive work.
00:15:46.02\00:15:48.07
What makes sin so terrible
00:15:49.80\00:15:52.67
is that we have chosen it.
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We have chosen our own demise.
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Sin is not so much
God's fault at all,
00:15:59.10\00:16:02.58
but, it is our choice, it
is moral and spiritual suicide.
00:16:03.20\00:16:07.56
Look around you, all the pain,
destruction, all the death,
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this things that you
see, we have caused them.
00:16:12.35\00:16:15.30
The world and all of those?
stand from our own misdeeds.
00:16:15.33\00:16:20.43
This is the nature of sin,
00:16:22.28\00:16:24.93
and it works
within the heart of man.
00:16:25.29\00:16:28.47
We must see grace in
light of our own wickedness.
00:16:29.50\00:16:32.72
God did not come to this planet
00:16:32.75\00:16:35.61
to save us because He
had done something wrong.
00:16:35.90\00:16:39.66
He came here
because we had chosen death.
00:16:40.00\00:16:44.30
We are savage and cruel,
00:16:47.73\00:16:51.45
and left to our own,
00:16:52.85\00:16:54.77
we would destroy ourselves.
00:16:55.64\00:16:57.74
But the beauty and the wonder
and the majesty of God's grace
00:16:58.30\00:17:02.25
is that while we were without
strength, while we were His
00:17:02.29\00:17:06.21
enemies, Christ died for us.
00:17:06.24\00:17:09.43
Romans 5 doesn't only imply
that we were damaging ourselves,
00:17:10.10\00:17:16.32
it also implies that we
have done damage to God.
00:17:16.80\00:17:20.41
Let's take a look to Romans
5 one more time, Romans 5: 10
00:17:20.45\00:17:24.66
it says:
00:17:24.69\00:17:25.66
We were God's enemies,
00:17:36.22\00:17:38.11
not only is the law real,
00:17:39.40\00:17:41.17
but when we brake God's Law
we brake a love relationship
00:17:41.90\00:17:46.66
with God.
00:17:47.00\00:17:47.97
We become His enemies.
00:17:48.00\00:17:50.16
We becomes the ones
not only hurting ourselves.
00:17:50.20\00:17:53.80
We are hurting the
one who loves us the most.
00:17:54.70\00:17:57.93
God's grace reaches down to
us while we were His enemies.
00:17:58.90\00:18:03.04
Notice please, we are God's
enemies and God is not ours.
00:18:03.50\00:18:08.28
God's love for us
00:18:09.34\00:18:10.97
is demonstrated, that
while we were still sinners,
00:18:11.91\00:18:16.32
Christ died for us.
00:18:17.40\00:18:18.94
A very powerful
illustration of God's grace
00:18:18.97\00:18:22.92
comes from a film
called "The Mission".
00:18:24.82\00:18:27.29
In this story,
00:18:29.54\00:18:30.63
the protagonist is a mercenary.
00:18:31.80\00:18:35.43
His name is Mendosa.
00:18:35.46\00:18:37.04
It is in the time of the
colonization of the New World.
00:18:37.49\00:18:41.02
It is in South America
where this story takes place.
00:18:41.47\00:18:44.84
And this mercenary is
going through the jungles
00:18:44.87\00:18:48.18
of South America capturing the
native people and taking them
00:18:48.22\00:18:52.17
back to the colony
to be sold as slaves.
00:18:52.20\00:18:54.96
This is the kind of man he is.
00:18:55.60\00:18:56.80
At the very beginning of the
film he gets into an altercation
00:18:57.25\00:19:01.25
with his brother and
he kills his own brother.
00:19:01.28\00:19:03.31
And it snaps something in
him and he realizes just how
00:19:03.70\00:19:07.79
terrible a person he is.
00:19:07.82\00:19:09.31
Well, the priests come through
the little colony and they
00:19:10.19\00:19:14.70
find out about this man.
00:19:14.73\00:19:15.90
And they go to him and
they say that he can be forgiven
00:19:16.40\00:19:20.78
and restored.
00:19:20.81\00:19:22.20
But the man must choose
his own penance, and so this is
00:19:22.55\00:19:25.83
what he decides that he will do.
00:19:25.86\00:19:27.86
He decides that he will
follow these missionaries,
00:19:28.10\00:19:31.95
these priests, through
the jungles of South America.
00:19:31.98\00:19:35.65
And become their servant
00:19:37.60\00:19:39.91
he would do this
while he had a heavy burden
00:19:41.27\00:19:46.03
strapped to his back.
00:19:46.60\00:19:47.71
A burden of armor, that old
Spanish, conquistadorian armor.
00:19:48.70\00:19:52.94
And so, the scene is
00:19:54.01\00:19:56.40
this man struggling
through the jungles,
00:19:57.09\00:19:59.86
following these priests
to go to a mission village
00:20:00.60\00:20:04.13
where they had built a
church and these priests were
00:20:04.40\00:20:07.37
ministering to
the native people.
00:20:07.40\00:20:09.20
To get to this mission, you
had to climb the face of this
00:20:10.00\00:20:15.63
waterfall
00:20:15.66\00:20:16.67
that was the only way to get up
and so in a very dramatic moment
00:20:17.20\00:20:21.08
this man is tethered to the
other missionaries, but he's
00:20:21.80\00:20:25.79
climbing with this heavy
burden on his back and he climbs
00:20:25.82\00:20:29.78
so high and then falls,
and batters his body against
00:20:29.81\00:20:36.96
the rocks and bruises his
body against the jagged edges of
00:20:37.00\00:20:40.55
the rocks, and he begins
to climb again a little higher
00:20:40.58\00:20:43.66
he never falls all the way
because he's tethered to this
00:20:43.69\00:20:46.74
other missionaries, but he
falls again, just a little ways,
00:20:46.77\00:20:50.28
and he crushes his body against
the rocks some more, and his
00:20:50.32\00:20:53.80
body is becoming bloody,
00:20:53.83\00:20:55.27
he is just exhausted as
he climbs this face of this
00:20:56.20\00:21:01.68
waterfall. The water is just
cascading down and the rocks are
00:21:02.30\00:21:05.93
very slippery, he climbs a
little way and he falls, and he
00:21:05.96\00:21:09.56
falls, and this
continues for a long time.
00:21:10.15\00:21:11.97
The missionaries actually get
to the very-top and are welcomed
00:21:13.00\00:21:16.62
by the villagers and it's like
a celebration, this man is still
00:21:16.65\00:21:20.24
making his way up,
finally he gets to the very-top,
00:21:20.27\00:21:22.92
And he crawls over the edge,
00:21:23.30\00:21:25.33
and the water is cascading
on one side of him, and he is
00:21:26.10\00:21:29.06
thoroughly exhausted.
00:21:29.09\00:21:30.44
His hair is mudded with
blood and sweat and water,
00:21:30.89\00:21:35.69
and his whole body is
shaking from exhaustion.
00:21:36.32\00:21:41.41
And at that
moment everything stops.
00:21:42.53\00:21:45.73
The son of the
chief of this village,
00:21:47.30\00:21:50.39
grabs a knife, that's laying on
a rock and runs out to this man.
00:21:51.55\00:21:57.63
He grabs him by the hair
and holds the knife under his
00:21:58.80\00:22:03.98
throat. And then he begins
to speak on his own native
00:22:05.31\00:22:07.86
language. You don't know what
he's saying, but you can imagine
00:22:07.90\00:22:11.18
what he's saying.
00:22:11.21\00:22:12.18
He is saying this is the man
who has made us afraid to walk
00:22:12.19\00:22:15.46
in our country.
00:22:15.49\00:22:16.46
This is the man who is coming
to our country and stole away
00:22:16.60\00:22:20.70
our fathers and our sons.
00:22:20.73\00:22:22.35
This is the man who has made us
afraid to walk around and live
00:22:22.39\00:22:27.02
as we once have.
00:22:27.05\00:22:28.02
This is the man who
has ruined our lives.
00:22:28.03\00:22:30.93
And so you can see him
there with the knife underneath
00:22:32.28\00:22:35.23
Mendoza's throat.
00:22:35.26\00:22:36.72
And, in a very
dramatic moment in the scene
00:22:36.86\00:22:42.43
he reaches behind,
00:22:43.54\00:22:46.34
and cuts the straps that
hold this man's burden and this
00:22:47.10\00:22:51.65
big, heavy satchel of
armor rolls off this man's back
00:22:51.68\00:22:55.49
and falls over the waterfall,
and then the entire village
00:22:55.53\00:22:59.01
comes in, and they begin to
laugh, and they begin to welcome
00:22:59.04\00:23:02.49
this man, and
this man begins to cry.
00:23:02.52\00:23:04.73
And his life from that
moment has been changed.
00:23:06.30\00:23:11.09
It is an
incredible picture of grace.
00:23:12.86\00:23:16.72
For grace is when the
weapon that should've been used
00:23:19.00\00:23:23.05
to take your life,
00:23:23.08\00:23:25.06
is used to set you free.
00:23:25.37\00:23:28.51
Oh, my friend,
00:23:30.61\00:23:32.21
we need to
understand just how bad it is.
00:23:33.16\00:23:37.52
The Bible says that while
we were God's enemies, while we
00:23:38.80\00:23:43.42
were sinful, that's when he came
00:23:43.45\00:23:45.53
to rescue us.
00:23:46.70\00:23:48.14
To die for us.
00:23:48.18\00:23:49.59
And the beauty of grace is that
if God would come to rescue us
00:23:50.35\00:23:55.93
while we were His enemies
00:23:55.96\00:23:57.50
certainly we can be assured that
He will take us to the kingdom
00:23:58.25\00:24:03.78
to live with him forever.
00:24:03.81\00:24:05.66
We can be safe and secure.
00:24:06.10\00:24:09.75
One more thing.
00:24:12.90\00:24:13.88
The Bible says in Romans 10-11:
00:24:15.98\00:24:20.85
We have been reconciled
while we were enemies.
00:24:34.78\00:24:38.41
The word there, in the Greek,
that's translated reconciled
00:24:38.48\00:24:42.90
is "catalaso".
00:24:43.90\00:24:44.87
And it means to
exchange one thing for another.
00:24:45.63\00:24:49.46
The Bible is saying we can
rejoice because the exchange
00:24:50.15\00:24:55.91
has already been made.
00:24:55.94\00:24:57.88
We don't have to wait to shout.
00:24:58.58\00:25:01.13
We can shout right now
because the exchange has already
00:25:01.50\00:25:06.27
been made.
00:25:06.30\00:25:07.30
Christ's righteousness
for our sinfulness.
00:25:07.48\00:25:11.48
Christ's life, for our death.
00:25:11.51\00:25:14.34
Christ's glory for our ignomy.
00:25:14.75\00:25:17.26
the exchange has
already been made.
00:25:17.75\00:25:20.60
And because we have been
reconciled, while we were
00:25:21.60\00:25:25.16
enemies,
00:25:25.19\00:25:27.07
We need not fear,
00:25:27.90\00:25:29.29
to think that maybe, possibly,
God wouldn't love us enough,
00:25:30.13\00:25:35.45
to keep us in that
saving relationship with Him.
00:25:35.48\00:25:39.75
We can be safe and secure.
00:25:41.41\00:25:44.59
How bad is it?
00:25:46.84\00:25:48.19
It is never bad enough.
00:25:50.00\00:25:53.05
But that God's grace,
can reach us where we are.
00:25:54.12\00:25:58.92
There is no need to fear,
00:25:59.95\00:26:02.37
there is no need to worry
whether we're in the kingdom
00:26:03.18\00:26:07.75
or not, whether I'm good enough
or not, the exchange has already
00:26:07.79\00:26:12.29
been made, Halleluiah.
00:26:12.32\00:26:14.00
While we were helpless, while
we were powerless, fully sold
00:26:14.87\00:26:19.47
out to sin,
00:26:19.50\00:26:20.47
that's when Christ came.
00:26:21.75\00:26:24.08
That's when He died.
00:26:25.00\00:26:26.90
That's when He
gave His life for us.
00:26:27.52\00:26:30.75
Grace is ours while
we are God's enemies.
00:26:32.30\00:26:38.91
And if He accepts us,
while we're His enemies,
00:26:40.35\00:26:44.09
Certainly, when we have
entered into a love relationship
00:26:44.85\00:26:48.55
with Him,
00:26:48.58\00:26:49.55
He will keep us, his promise
never to leave us nor to forsake
00:26:49.56\00:26:54.34
us.
00:26:54.37\00:26:55.86
We can be sure,
00:26:55.90\00:26:58.26
we can be confident,
00:26:58.90\00:27:01.63
that we are safe and secure.
00:27:02.56\00:27:03.89
The love of God,
the grace of God,
00:27:05.54\00:27:09.01
abounds far
beyond our sinfulness,
00:27:10.40\00:27:13.78
Thrust God, thrust Him today,
00:27:15.33\00:27:18.84
and live a life
at peace, with Him.
00:27:20.00\00:27:23.56
Because, you have been
reconciled by the blood
00:27:24.00\00:27:27.78
of Christ.
00:27:27.81\00:27:28.94
Let's pray.
00:27:30.50\00:27:31.90
Gracious heavenly Father,
00:27:32.23\00:27:33.61
we recognize our own sinfulness.
00:27:34.49\00:27:36.72
We are born in sin, shapen in
iniquity, but now you have come
00:27:37.60\00:27:41.10
to free us from sin,
00:27:41.13\00:27:42.76
even when we're
stained and bloodied in sin.
00:27:43.35\00:27:46.05
We thank you for
this, Lord we thank you.
00:27:46.09\00:27:48.76
We pray this in Jesus' name.
00:27:49.25\00:27:50.42
Amen.
00:27:51.00\00:27:51.97