Several times in His sermons
and teachings to the disciples
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the Lord Jesus
warned the disciples
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that false christs would show.
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And He reiterated
that for the end of time.
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You know, today people want
Jesus to be in their own image.
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They want Him to be like them.
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And man has had a problem with
this down through the centuries.
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They always try to form
God into their own image.
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But listen, you can't
make Jesus into your own image.
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You want the Jesus
of the New Testament.
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But Babylon makes a false Jesus.
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She paints a Jesus that is not
the Jesus of the New Testament.
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And so that's why you
want the faithful church.
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The faithful church
teaches this incomparable Jesus,
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this incomparable Jesus,
this Jesus of the New Testament.
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This Jesus that
teaches unselfish love.
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And so I want to go to that and
take a look at Revelation 12:17,
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and we're going to see
what this faithful church
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actually teaches.
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It says, "And the dragon
was enraged with the woman,
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and he went to make war
with the rest," or the remnant,
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or the last piece on the bolt
of cloth, "of her offspring..."
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Using her as a symbol.
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This is God's faithful
people, His faithful church.
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And he describes
them, not by name.
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He doesn't name them,
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or everybody would
have used that name.
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But he describes
her characteristics
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so you can know who she is
and who is the faithful church.
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So here it is.
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"...who keep the
commandments of God..."
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That's pretty clear.
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That's pretty basic, isn't it?
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God's Ten Commandments,
we know the context.
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Just a few verses
earlier in chapter 11 verse 19
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the ark of the
covenant is open in heaven.
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That's where the Ten
Commandments are kept.
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"...and they have
the testimony of Jesus."
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So they love Jesus,
they have His testimony.
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And they also keep
God's commandments.
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Now Revelation 14:12
adds a little bit to that.
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It says, in contrast to those
who keep the mark of the beast,
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it says, these are the
faithful, the faithful church,
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the one you need to go
into to get out of the other one
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while there's still time,
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"Here is the
patience of the saints;
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here are they that keep
the commandments of God..."
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That's reiterated twice.
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"...and have
the faith of Jesus."
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So these are the people
that have the faith of Jesus.
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Faith in Jesus.
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And they trust Jesus
with all their heart.
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Now notice these
three characteristics.
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This is not complicated,
it's not rocket science.
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You can add and subtract here.
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With just some godly wisdom,
submission to the Holy Spirit.
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Here are those
three characteristics.
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First of all, they keep
the commandments of God.
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And we know these
are the Ten Commandments.
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That's the context. You
can't escape the context.
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The context is crucial.
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It's not just
some, you know, ordinary,
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not ordinary, but
unusual commandments that God...
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No, it's the Ten Commandments.
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We should always keep
any of God's commands,
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but these are
His Ten Commandments.
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That's the context.
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And then it goes
on to say, number two,
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it has the testimony of Jesus.
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Or it has the prophetic gift.
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Now the Holy Spirit
that's been given to the church
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will operate in the church
until the end of the time.
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The Holy Spirit
is the one who brings
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the living Christ into us.
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He brings the living Christ into
our hearts and into our lives.
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And so, this group
has the testimony of Jesus
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which is the prophetic
gift operating in the church.
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One of the fruits of the
Spirit is the prophetic gift.
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And we want that prophetic gift.
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And I'm thankful
for the prophetic gift.
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I don't have time to get
in and talk a lot about that,
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except to tell you
that characteristic.
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But let me give you the text of
Scripture that tells about that.
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Revelation 19:9-10 says this,
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and I want you to
notice something here,
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"Then he said to me," this
is the angel talking to John,
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"Write," write what you've
seen, "Write: 'Blessed are those
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who are called to the
marriage supper of the Lamb!'"
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Now keep that in mind.
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"...those who are called to the
marriage supper of the Lamb."
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Called out of Babylon.
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These are God's
people at the end of time;
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the ones that are called to
the marriage supper of the Lamb.
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"And then he said to me, 'These
are the true sayings of God.'
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And I fell at his
feet to worship him."
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John is so overwhelmed with the
presence of this glorious angel.
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"But he," the
angel, "said to me,
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'See that you do not do that!
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For I am your fellow
servant, and of your brethren
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who have the
testimony of Jesus."
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Now remember,
"Write: 'Blessed are those
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who are called to the
marriage supper of the Lamb.'"
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The angel says to
John, "Don't worship me.
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I'm one with you.
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I'm a part of your brethren that
have the testimony of Jesus."
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And then the angel
said, "Worship God.
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For the testimony of Jesus
is the spirit of prophecy."
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The spirit of prophecy.
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Now he reiterates that another
time in chapter 22 verses 8-9.
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John says, "I saw
these things and heard them.
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And when I saw
them and heard them,
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I fell down to worship
before the feet of the angel
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who showed me these things."
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John just again is overwhelmed.
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"But then the angel
says to me, he said to me,
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'See that you do not do that.
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For I am of your fellow
servants...the prophets,
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of those who keep
the words of this book.
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Worship God.'"
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So the testimony
of Jesus is what comes
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through the prophetic gift.
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And that gift is given to
us in Scripture, of course,
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but it's also
given to the church,
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particularly in the end of
time to those who are called
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to the marriage
supper of the Lamb.
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So you want to
find a church that has a
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genuine prophetic gift in it.
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Now the Bible says
there will be false prophets
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even down to the end of time.
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How do you tell a
false prophet from a genuine?
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You tell it by Scripture.
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You test everything.
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The apostles
said test everything.
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Jesus commended
the church of Ephesus
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because she tested the apostles.
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Commended other churches
because they tested people
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who said they were prophets.
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No, test it.
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But that doesn't mean the real
one is not going to be there
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for the end of
time for God's church.
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It also has the faith of Jesus.
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Revelation 14:6 says,
"Then I saw another angel
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flying in the midst of heaven,
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having the
everlasting gospel..."
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So it has the gospel of Jesus.
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It has the true gospel of Jesus.
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What is the everlasting gospel?
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It's the
repentance of your sins.
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Even Jesus went
about saying in His day
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when He started His ministry,
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"Repent, for the
kingdom of heaven is at hand."
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To repent means to repent in
front of God's Ten Commandments.
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It means to give up your sins.
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If you repent, I
promise you, by the grace of God
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if you repent out of your heart
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by the moving of the Holy
Spirit, you will be forgiven.
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Because Jesus,
that incomparable Jesus,
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is the Lamb of God who
takes away the sin of the world.
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Who takes away
my sin and your sin.
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The gospel has power to deliver.
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It was in Romans that
the apostle Paul in the first
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chapter said this, he
said, "For I am not ashamed
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of the gospel of Christ..."
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Why was he not ashamed
of the gospel of Christ?
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Not only because
it gave salvation,
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not only because it
forgave people's sin,
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but listen to this.
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"...for it is the power
of God unto salvation..."
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In other words, it
has power to change.
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Now I say this
with sweet kindness.
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You can go to all
religions of the world,
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and they're basically
all religions of works.
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"If you do this, and
this, and this, and this,
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if you go through these
rituals, rituals, rituals,
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you will somehow get clean."
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You're not going to get clean.
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Because they
can't change your heart.
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It's only this incomparable
Jesus that can transform
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the human heart.
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The gospel reveals
the righteousness of God.
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I don't have a lot
of time to go into this,
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but I want to
go over Romans 3:21
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and I want to read that
verse, or at least repeat it.
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"The righteousness of God
is revealed apart from the law,
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being witnessed by
the Law and the Prophets."
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What does he mean by this?
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What does he mean by that?
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How is the righteousness of God
exhibited apart from the law?
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Well, maybe some
of you are fishermen.
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Have you ever pulled
a fish out of the water?
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Why does it start to
flop and go like this?
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Well let me ask
another question.
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Do fish need oxygen to survive?
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The answer to that
is, yes. Just like we do.
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We need oxygen.
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The oxygen is the same in
the water as it is in the air,
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but the fish can't
breathe in the air.
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He can't get
oxygen out of the air.
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He has to have water.
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Listen, without Christ the law
of God will simply condemn us.
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We can't survive.
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But in Christ, in Christ, He
gives a totally new atmosphere.
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And because of Him and His
righteousness we can breathe.
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Now the righteousness
of God is like the oxygen.
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It never changes.
It's still righteous.
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But in Christ we
have forgiveness.
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In Christ we are changed.
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In Christ we can
breathe and live, and not die.
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That's why Paul says at
the end of that same chapter,
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"Do we then make void
the law through faith?
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God forbid!
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Yea, we establish the law."
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We establish it because we
have the living law in Christ.
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And in Christ you and
I can breathe and live.
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And that's the wonderful
thing about the gospel.
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We can't save ourselves.
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This is summed up so
beautiful in Galatians 2:20
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where the apostle Paul says,
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"I have been
crucified with Christ.
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Now then, this self is dead."
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And you want
yourself to get so dead that
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it never has a
hope of a resurrection,
00:10:01.26\00:10:02.76
as one person said.
00:10:02.80\00:10:04.23
"I have been
crucified with Christ;
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but it's no longer I who live,
but Christ who lives in me."
00:10:06.40\00:10:11.37
This incomparable
Jesus, Paul is saying.
00:10:11.41\00:10:14.84
"...but Christ who lives in me.
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And the life I now live in
the flesh," in this present age,
00:10:16.91\00:10:21.05
"the life I now live I
live by faith in the Son of God,
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who loved me and
gave Himself for me."
00:10:26.22\00:10:29.82
What a powerful
picture of the gospel.
00:10:29.86\00:10:32.89
Christ is the
fulfillment of the law.
00:10:32.93\00:10:36.40
It's the gospel that Christ
in you is the hope of glory.
00:10:37.13\00:10:41.74
And when you give
your heart to Christ,
00:10:41.77\00:10:43.51
the Holy Spirit brings the
living Christ inside of you.
00:10:43.54\00:10:47.08
A lot of people think if they
just, you know, if they just
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buy into some theory, or
buy into the theory of religion,
00:10:49.48\00:10:53.11
if they get the right
theory, that they'll be okay.
00:10:53.15\00:10:55.88
Well listen, I love the truth.
00:10:55.92\00:10:57.62
Jesus is the way,
the truth, and the life.
00:10:57.65\00:10:59.79
And the truth is
what brings you to Christ.
00:10:59.82\00:11:02.06
But the theory of truth,
no matter how right it is,
00:11:02.09\00:11:05.89
cannot in itself save you.
00:11:06.19\00:11:09.26
The church can't save you.
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No one can save you
except the living Christ in you.
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The living Christ
who is the hope of glory.
00:11:17.27\00:11:20.38
It is this Babylon
who in the end of time
00:11:20.41\00:11:23.21
gives lip service to Jesus.
00:11:23.48\00:11:25.35
But by her sins she shows that
she doesn't belong to Jesus.
00:11:25.68\00:11:31.05
By her behavior she
shows that she's not a faithful
00:11:31.09\00:11:35.19
wife of the Lord Jesus.
00:11:35.22\00:11:37.26
So we have the
false mark of the beast.
00:11:38.19\00:11:41.43
By the way, the mark
of the beast is nothing
00:11:41.46\00:11:43.03
except another false gospel.
00:11:43.06\00:11:44.77
But it's going to
be a pleasing gospel.
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A gospel that people
are going to buy into.
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You know, time is
running out for the world.
00:11:50.14\00:11:53.27
I think of the prodigal son.
00:11:53.71\00:11:55.61
You know the story well.
00:11:55.88\00:11:57.21
He's down there in the pig pen.
00:11:57.25\00:11:58.65
He spent all of his inheritance.
00:11:58.68\00:12:00.72
And his father
goes day after day
00:12:00.75\00:12:03.59
wanting, hoping that
this boy will come back
00:12:03.62\00:12:06.49
and someday, somehow,
he comes to his senses,
00:12:06.52\00:12:11.03
he comes to his
senses before it's too late.
00:12:11.49\00:12:16.26
Now I ask sometimes,
when was that boy forgiven?
00:12:16.93\00:12:19.03
Some people say,
"Well, when he came back."
00:12:19.23\00:12:21.14
"When he left."
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I want to tell you he was
forgiven the day he was born.
00:12:23.24\00:12:25.61
Forgiveness was in
the father's heart.
00:12:27.28\00:12:29.41
But he didn't
experience forgiveness.
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When he sinned and
left his father's home
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he could have
stayed in that pig pen
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and never, ever experienced
forgiveness and been restored.
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Listen, there's forgiveness
in the heart of Jesus for you.
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He says, "Come out.
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Come into a
church that's faithful.
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Come, come out
while there's still time.
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I don't want you to
suffer the plagues of Babylon.
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There's forgiveness
in My heart for you.
00:12:57.21\00:12:59.21
I love you."
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And I want to recommend to you
the example of the prodigal son.
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Don't stay, don't stay
where you ought not to stay.
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Maybe you like it
there, maybe it's comfortable,
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but don't stay there.
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If you keep staying there,
there's going to come judgment.
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There's a time to leave.
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There's a time to be faithful
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and be part of
God's faithful church.
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And now is the time.
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