Welcome to Books in the
Book, I'm Pastor Mark Howard
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Pastor of Gobels Seventh-Day
Adventist church in Gobels
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Michigan and as well as
the director of Emmanuel
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Institute of Evangelism
in the Michigan Conference
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of Seventh-day Adventist.
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And I'm here with my
co-host Jim Howard and he is
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my brother. - that's
right and I am a Pastor also in
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in the Michigan Conference
of the Detroit Metropolitan
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and South Lyon
Seventh-day Adventist churches.
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And today we are studying
in the book of Galatians.
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Galatians is a powerful
book in the New Testament.
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In Galatians we gave a
little background yesterday on
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the book of Galatians and
we came through a little of
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chapter 2 with the
surrounding controversy of
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circumcision. Today we
are going to delve into it
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a little bit further into
the real message of the book.
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We're are going to start
in Galatians 2 so if you have
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your Bibles at home I
would encourage you to turn in
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your Bibles with us
to Galatians Chapter 2.
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You will find Galatians
in the New Testament and you
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start out with the Gospels
Matthew, Mark, Luke, John,
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Acts, Romans, 1 and
2 Corinthians and then
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the book of Galatians.
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We're going to Galatians
2:11 and we talked about this
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a little bit in
our last episode.
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We had talked about
this controversy and actually
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contention that came up
between the apostle Paul and
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apostle Peter. - Peter was
switching tables as I recall.
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That's right, it says here
in verse 11 "now when Peter
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"had come to Antioch," Paul
said, "I withstood him to his
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"face, because he was to
be blamed; for before certain
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"men came from James, he
would eat with the Gentiles;
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"but when they came, he
withdrew and separated himself,
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"fearing those who were
of the circumcision. And the
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"rest of the Jews also
played the hypocrite with him,
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"so that even Barnabas
was carried away with their
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"hypocrisy. But when
I saw that they were not
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"straightforward about the
truth of the Gospel, I said
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"to Peter before them
all, if you, being a Jew, live
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"in the manner of Gentiles
and not as the Jews why do
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"you compel Gentiles to
live as Jews? We who are
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"Jews by nature, and not
sinners of the Gentiles, knowing
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"that a man is not justified
by the works of the law but
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"by faith in Jesus Christ,
even we have believed in Christ
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"Jesus, that we might be
justified by faith in Christ
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"and not by the works of
the law; for by the works of
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"the law no flesh
shall be justified. "
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So here is this emphatic
cry against justification by
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works of the law, and
emphatic I say he brings it up
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three times in this text.
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From my own perspective or
reading the book of Galatians,
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this is, if not the
keynote of the book of Galatians
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where he just emphatically
makes the point that I think
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he is trying to communicate
through this whole book is
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that justification
comes through faith and
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not by works of the law.
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That's right, and if you
key in on verse 16, as you said
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it mentions this three times.
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And it says specifically
for by the works of the law no
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flesh shall be justified.
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And what we want to do is
take little time today to talk
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about justification
because it is the central theme,
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if you will, of
the book of Galatians.
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We have talked about how
the Gospel, and the true gospel
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is exactly what
Paul is addressing here,
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but at the heart of the
gospel is justification.
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Now when it says by the
works of the law no flesh shall
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be justified, it is
important to remember that while
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Paul is speaking negatively
here toward something,
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he is not speaking negatively
toward the law but toward
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the works of the law.
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In fact not even just the works
of the law but be justified by
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the works of the law.
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So to say that this is
somehow doing away with the law
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really doesn't make
sense and here's why.
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That word
justified, who needs justified?
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Well someone who is
guilty, and you can't be guilty
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without the law, there has
to be some standard in order
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for there to be any guilt.
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So justification requires
that there has to be a law
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governing the situation.
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That's right, justification
implies law, the word implies
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law, for example if you are
in a discussion with a friend
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about something and you get
into a little heated argument
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and you tell your friend,
or your friend tells you,
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you are just trying
to justify yourself.
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Well what are we saying?
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- you're trying to make
yourself out to be innocent.
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- yet you're trying to
show you are not guilty.
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Nobody tries to justify them-
selves when they don't feel like
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somebody has been attacking,
or they're not accused.
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Self-justification
begins, a person doesn't try to
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justify themselves
until they feel like
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somebody has
accused them and then
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they have to
declare their innocence.
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So we are talking
about justification, and what
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Paul is talking about is
man's response to that feeling
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of condemnation, but
that comes through law.
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Something we need to realize
here and maybe our viewers
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do not realize is that
we don't pick it up in the
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English text of our Bible
but if you go into the Greek
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texts, it is interesting
that Paul does not use the word,
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he doesn't use the definite
article in the Greek he uses
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the word nomos which is
the Greek word for law, but he
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doesn't use a definite
article, in other words the law.
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And without the definite
article instead of the law
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it would just be law.
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If we were to read this
as Paul wrote it without this
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definite article and the way
it is reading here in my Bible
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as Paul wrote it he
would say something like this.
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Verse 16 knowing that a
man is not justified by works
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of law but by faith in
Jesus Christ, even we have
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believed in Christ Jesus
that we might be justified by
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faith in Christ and
not by works of law.
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So he is not even
trying to narrow down to one
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particular law as much
as he is just talking about
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the role of law and
bringing that condemnation and
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a man trying to
justify himself from law.
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That's right, but the
law is there because it is
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declaring the guilt that
requires him to be justified.
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So justification as
we have laid out here,
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is only needed if
someone is guilty.
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This really brings a, if
I could say a heartwarming
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reality to the
issue of justification.
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Let's look at a passage
that shows us a little bit
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about how and who God justifies.
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It is in Romans chapter
4 and I think it would be
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valuable for us to look there.
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Romans 4:5 and it says,
"but to him who does not work
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"but believes on him
who justifies the ungodly,
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"his faith is
accounted for righteousness. "
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And that makes our point
again, I mean who else would be
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justified other than the
ones who needs to be justified.
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God justifies not
those that have no problems,
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not those who are perfect
and skate right along in life
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with no mistakes.
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God justifies the
ungodly the only ones
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who need justified.
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So we have different examples
in the Bible, and I think
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it would be valuable for us
to look at different examples
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in the Bible of
justification and of people
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who found themselves in
the need of justification and
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how they reacted to that.
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And I would like to add to
that a point that we will be
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making as we are all
ungodly according to Scripture.
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So there is not a class
of people that don't need
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justification, but there
may be some who don't feel
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they need
justification. - that's right.
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We may all be ungodly
but not everybody senses
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that they are ungodly.
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Well let's look at
one example in Luke 10:25.
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This particular passage
draws out a man, a young lawyer
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who specifically deals
with this issue of guilt
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in a not so good way and
it is found in Luke 10:25.
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It says, "and behold, a
certain lawyer stood up and
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"tested Him," he's testing
Jesus, "saying, Teacher what
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"shall I do to inherit
eternal life? He said to him,
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"What is written in the
law? What is your reading of it?
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"So he answered and said,
you shall love the Lord your
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"God with all your heart,
with all your soul, with all
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"your strength,
and with all your mind,
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"and your neighbor as yourself.
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"And He said to him,
you have answered rightly;
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"do this and you will live. "
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Now at this point this
lawyer is probably thinking
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I have done pretty well
and He asked me what my reading
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of the law was and I told
Him the most important part.
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Now he is thinking,
wait a minute, I'm not sure
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I'm living up to
that exactly right.
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So he has to do his best
to change the law, or the
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it is a interpretation of
the law so that his life will
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meet it so he will not
be found guilty by the law,
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but found innocent and it
draws that out specifically
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in verse 29 where it says,
"but he, wanting to" and that
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is where it says justify
himself, "justify himself, said
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"to Jesus, And
who is my neighbor?"
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So he was wanting to justify
himself so he asked Jesus,
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who is my neighbor? I mean
that is not everybody is it?
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That's only
certain people right?
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He was wanting to make
sure that his life was innocent
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and in order to do that he
was trying to justify himself.
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Right, and that reminds me
of another example of a young
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man as well in Luke 18:18
where it says, "now certain
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"ruler asked him, saying,
Good Teacher, what shall I do
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"to inherit eternal life?"
Very much the same question.
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"Oh Jesus said to him,
why do you call Me good?
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"No one is good but One,
that is God. You know the
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"Commandments: Do not
commit adultery, Do not murder,
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"Do not steal, Do not
bear false witness, Honor your
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"father and your mother.
And he said all these things
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"I have kept from my youth. "
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Now there is an interesting
difference between these two
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young men is that the
first one seem to recognize that
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he wasn't doing what he
was supposed to be doing.
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- that is why he
tried to justify himself.
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- exactly so the condemnation
came and he tried to
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declare his own
innocence and say that it wasn't
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important for him
to keep those things.
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Somehow or
another to excuse himself.
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Now this man, he in his
heart really believes he is
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doing everything that
God has required of him.
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So Jesus comes a little
closer to the issue and says,
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"you still lack one thing.
Go sell all that you have and
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"give to the poor,
and you will have treasure
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"in heaven; and
come, follow Me. "
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Of course the Bible
says he goes away sorrowful.
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- That's right, that's right
the interesting thing about
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both the stories though,
is that if you really look at
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them, both are asking
what do I need to be justified?
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To inherit eternal life?
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I mean justification is
about salvation, it's about
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eternity and so they
are both asking what do
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I need to do to be justified
and in both cases Jesus
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unashamedly says, What
do you read in the law?
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He points them to the law
and whether or not they are
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obeying the law to find
out what they are to do.
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Jesus was using the law
to point out their guilt so
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they would recognize their
need of genuine justification.
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That they would be
able to find the Him.
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This issue of pointing people
to the law will always lead
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them to, if they are looking at
it in the right light, to sense
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the need of justification
because of what the Bible
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teaches what every
person truly has inside of them.
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This touches on what
you were saying earlier
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that everyone is ungodly.
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I want to look at a verse
that really draws that out.
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It is in Romans 8:7, it
is one of the clearest places
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where it describes
the condition of man.
00:11:58.89\00:12:00.98
It says, "because the
carnal mind" and it is the mind
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we are born with,
"is enmity against God;"
00:12:06.99\00:12:09.93
that is hostile
towards God, opposed to God,
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"for it is not
subject to the "law of God,
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"nor indeed can be. "
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So this nature we are
born with is opposed to God and
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the reason it is opposed
to God, the reason Paul says
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it is opposed to God is
because it is not subject
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to the law by nature.
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Not only are we not submissive
to God's will as expressed
00:12:33.63\00:12:37.87
in His law, but in
this nature we can't be.
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We can't be. - that's
right, so it is interesting to
00:12:41.48\00:12:47.38
me about this is that everybody
would agree, I would say
00:12:47.41\00:12:51.22
every Christian would agree
that we have a problem there.
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We are sinful, we are
carnal and carnal is not good.
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The Bible tells us here
that the reason carnal is not
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good is because it will not
subject itself to God's law.
00:13:03.05\00:13:08.42
- right! -than to try to
promote a Christianity that
00:13:08.45\00:13:14.42
does away with God's law is
to eternalize and perpetuate
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- the carnal heart
that is exactly right.
00:13:20.42\00:13:22.98
Wow, so this we are
seeing a little bit of a role of
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God's law in the process of
justification, but it is not
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the means of justification
and we are going to be seeing
00:13:30.50\00:13:33.74
that a little
bit more about that.
00:13:33.78\00:13:36.03
But before we delve into
that and dive into that we are
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going to take a break and
when we come back from our
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break we are going to go
and talk a little bit more about
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justification and our
real need for justification.
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So stay with us.
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