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The Gospel Isn't Meant To Please You— It's Meant to Save You
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Jul 16, 2025
In today’s Tuesday Scripture Dive, we explore 1 Thessalonians chapter 1 and unpack a powerful truth: the gospel isn’t preached to please the audience — it’s preached to reveal who God is and lead people to repentance. Join me as we walk through Paul’s letter to the Thessalonians and see what genuine faith, love, and hope look like in the life of a believer. We’ll talk about: ✅ Why the gospel must come with power, the Holy Spirit, and conviction ✅ How the Thessalonians turned from idols to the living God ✅ The true role of the law and why understanding it is essential to understanding grace ✅ The difference between fleshly living and walking in the Spirit ✅ What real salvation, sanctification, and spiritual fruit look like This isn’t a feel-good message — it’s a wake-up call. If you’ve ever wondered whether your faith is genuine, or if you’re ready to confront the weight of sin in light of God’s holiness, this teaching is for you. 📌 Are you ready for the wrath to come? Have you received Christ not just as Savior, but as Lord? 🙏 Don’t wait. Today is the day of salvation.
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0:00
All right. Um, welcome back to our
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Tuesday scripture diving into. So today
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we're going to talk about first
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Thessalonians
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just chapter 1. I'm going to read some
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verses and I want to explain what the
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Apostle Paul is trying to tell us today.
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Now if you follow me last week, we
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talked about what the Kinesis is and we
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talked about Christ's humility. And the
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week before that, we also talked about
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Romans u chapter 7, the struggle between
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the old nature and the new nature. So we
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talked about that and uh today we're
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going to move on and we're going to talk
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about first Thessalonians and I want to
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put an emphasis on the gospel. Hi Mario.
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I'm going to talk I want to make an
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emphasis on the gospel because one of
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the things that u people don't
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understand is this like I want to make a
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statement and we going to go from there.
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The gospel is not preached to please the
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audience. Let me say that again. The
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gospel is not preached to to please the
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gospel to please the audience. I mean,
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okay. The gospel is preached to bring
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the audience to an understanding of who
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God is
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so that they might repent of their sins
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and believe the gospel. Let me say that
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again. The gospel is not preached to
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please the audience. So when somebody
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preaches the gospel is not for you to
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come there and say why it makes me feel
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good. That is not the intent of the
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gospel. The gospel is so that you might
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repent of your sins and understand who
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God is.
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So if you go into a church where the
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gospel is preached to make you feel good
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or to to I mean you go to many churches
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today and all they preach about is oh
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God loves you. God loves you. Which I
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don't deny the love of God. This is why
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God sent Jesus, his son, to die on the
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cross for sinners like you and I. But it
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doesn't stop there. There's a reason why
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God did that. So you must always think
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of salvation in terms of the law of God.
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And I'll get to that, but let me get
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into the passage. Okay? So Paul is now
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writing to the to the Thessalonians.
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Okay? He
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the the church of Thessalonia was
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established probably in like three
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Sabbaths. Some people believe that he
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was established in like three weeks and
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Paul had to leave because they were
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trying to attempt to kill him. So he had
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to leave there very rapidly but his foot
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in that church was incredible. So Paul
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writes to this church because he want to
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inquire to make sure that they are still
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following him. They still follow not
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just Paul but Paul's uh preaching. Okay?
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Because people in in back back in the
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days there a lot of people are like
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charlatans where they would preach the
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gospel for the sake of money and they
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would preach the gospel for the sake of
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whatever their their end goal was. But
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Paul was not like that. But people were
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accusing Paul of being the same way. And
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Paul was going to refute these things
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because he knew that he preached the
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gospel out of his sheer desire to please
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God. All right. So let's listen to
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Paul's letter to the Thessalonians. He
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says here, Paul, Sylvanas, and Timothy
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to the church of the Thessalonians in
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God the Father and the Lord Jesus
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Christ. Grace to you and peace. Now
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listen to what Paul says in verse two.
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Now we give thanks to God always for all
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of you. So he gives thanks to God for
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all the people in Thessalonica's church.
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Why? He's going to tell in a minute.
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constantly mentioning you in our
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prayers, remembering before our God and
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father your work of faith. This is why
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he thanks God your work of faith, right?
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And labor of love and then what?
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Steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus
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Christ. Those are three elements of uh a
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regenerated heart. When someone receives
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the gospel, there's a transformation
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that occurs. And Paul mentions this in
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his very first salutation. He says that
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he is always joyful before God as he
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remembers the Thessalonians because of
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what? Because of their faith, right?
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Their work that is produced by faith.
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Their love that is their labor that is
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produced by their love and their hope in
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what? Hope in their coming back of the
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of Jesus Christ. So Paul sees in them a
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fruit of the gospel. Faith and then love
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and then hope. Those are three elements
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that are present in anyone who believes
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in Jesus. those things will always be
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there. So Paul says this, he was going
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to give them the reason why he believes
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they he believes what he believes about
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them. He says, "For we know brothers,
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loved by God,
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right? That he has chosen you." So Paul
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say the reason why I'm saying this
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because I know brothers, you are loved
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by God. See, this is the right way to
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use the word love because he's he has
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chosen you, right? He has chosen them
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and he's going to show why he knows that
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he has chosen them. Listen to the next
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thing. Because our gospel came to you
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not only in word but also in power and
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in the Holy Spirit and with full
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conviction. So Paul is saying here that
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I know that God has chosen you. I know
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that God has chosen you because when I
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preached the gospel to you alongside
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Timothy and Sylvanas. Our gospel did not
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just come in word but he came with what?
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With power and the Holy Spirit and full
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conviction. Something happened where
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Paul preached the gospel. This is why he
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knew that God had chosen them because
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the gospel came not only in word. He
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didn't just preach the word but the word
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was accompanied by what? By power.
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Because this word right Jesus um Paul
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himself says in Romans right I'm not
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ashamed of the gospel of God because it
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is the power of salvation to everyone is
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the power of God for salvation to anyone
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who believes to the Jews first and then
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to the Gentiles because in it the the
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righteousness of Christ is revealed from
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faith and for faith. So now he's saying
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here that when he preached the gospel to
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them, he knew that that gospel was not
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preached in vain because he came with
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power with the Holy Spirit and what
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else? With conviction. When Paul
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preached to them, there was conviction.
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There was conviction. Right? In John 16,
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what does Jesus say in John 16? He tells
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the people in John 16 what's going to
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happen when the Holy Spirit comes. I
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want to read that to you so you
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understand this. Listen to what um Jesus
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says in John 16, right? John 16 verse um
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let me let me get to that. John 16 verse
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um
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verse 8 about the Holy Spirit, the role
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of the Holy Spirit, right? Listen to
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this. And when he comes, meaning the
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Holy Spirit is a person, he will convict
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the world concerning sin and
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righteousness and judgment.
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Do you see that? When the holy pre the
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Holy Spirit comes, he will convict the
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world of what? Sin and righteousness and
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God's judgment. So when Paul preached
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the gospel to the Thessalonians, those
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elements were present because it was
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accompanied by the power of the Holy
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Ghost also known as the Holy Spirit.
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This is why the gospel came in power
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with the Holy Spirit and conviction.
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Those elements were there when Paul
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preached to the Thessalonians. Now you
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may wonder why am I saying all this?
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Right? Because if you go down in verse
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10 of Thessalonians chapter 1, right? He
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says here in verse 9, "For they
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themselves report concerning us the kind
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of reception we had among you and how
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you turned to God from idols to serve
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the living and true God." So how did he
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know? Because when the gospel came,
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these people in Thessalonica, they left
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their idolatry and they embraced the
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true God, the God of the Hebrews, the
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true God, the God of the Bible. So this
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is how Paul knew that that happened,
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right? Because when Paul preached the
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gospel in Thessalonica, something
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happened. He came with power. He came
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with a lot of conviction. And he came
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with the Holy Ghost. And when that
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happened, what happened to the
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Thessalonians? The scripture tells us
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here that how you turned to God from
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idols to serve the living and the true
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gods. So when the gospel is preached
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accurately, guess what happens? People
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change. This is not a joke. A lot of
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churches these day, you see the pastor
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is only interested in preaching to
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please his audience. Just like I said in
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the beginning, the gospel is never
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preached to please the audience. It is
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preached to so that people can
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understand who God is. When you preach
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the go the the gospel, the goal is so
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that people understand who God is. If
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your gospel does not do that, you're not
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preaching the gospel. You're preaching a
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joke. You are just wasting time in the
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pulpit. Hi Elena and hi Jack Kelly. Glad
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you guys are here with me today. Right?
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So again, Jesus says this. Why is this
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important? People don't understand,
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right? Because salvation is not about
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feeling good. It's about understanding
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first the law of God, right? You when
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you preach the gospel, you must always
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make sure that you do it in light of the
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law of God. Jesus says in Matthew 5
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verse 20, "Unless your righteousness
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exceed
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the righteousness of the Pharisee, you
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will not enter the kingdom of heaven."
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Jesus was not saying this is your fool
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around. He was serious. Which means this
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the the Pharisees at the time were seen
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as the model citizens. They were seen as
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those that had pretty much they were
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almost like the guardian of the society
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at the time because they were pious. But
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their piety had a lot of holes in it.
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Right? Because even though they kept the
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law of God, externally there were a lot
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more things that they didn't keep. And
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Jesus exposed that. Right? A lot of us
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want to make fun of the Pharisees. Oh
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yeah, you being a Pharisee. We don't
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even understand what these guys did.
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Right? They were pious people. But the
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thing is is their piety and everything
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that they did was very much superficial.
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It didn't really hit the deep sea news
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of their heart. So this is why Jesus
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really exposed that their duplicity. Now
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Jesus says to to us right unless your
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righteousness exceed that of the
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Pharisees which is at the time was seen
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as the highest of the high you will not
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enter the kingdom of heaven which means
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you and I are doomed. So are the
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Pharisees because they themselves can
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cut it so who can cut it. So that's what
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Jesus is saying here. So the
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righteousness that allows you to enter
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the kingdom of heaven is the
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righteousness of Christ. And none of you
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guys and none of us can have that
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because we by nature hate God and we
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cannot keep the law of God to
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perfection. Only Jesus did that. So this
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is why we are saved by grace through
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faith in Christ Jesus. So what God does
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is this. He applies to you and I the
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righteousness of Jesus Christ. So we are
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covered. Right? The scripture says
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somewhere that Christ is the end of the
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law for salvation to everyone who
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believes. A lot of people don't
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understand what that means. It does not
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mean that the law of God has ended with
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Christ. That's not what that means.
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Christ is the end of the law means that
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Christ is the goal of the law is the
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purpose of the law. Because when the law
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was given, God gave the law so that we
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can understand how sinful we are. If you
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go to Romans 7, that's the rule of the
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law. The law points your sin and he puts
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you under a heavy yoke because you know
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you can't keep that law so that you go
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you cry who's going to save me from this
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deadly body the body of sin and Christ
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is the end of the law Christ is the goal
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of the law Christ is the reason why we
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we have the law because he points us to
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Christ
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so Christ is not the end of the law
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Christ fulfilled the law so that you and
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I can have his righteousness
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again we are saved by works works but
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not our works, the works of Christ. Yes,
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I know that we are saved by grace
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through faith, but we are saved
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ultimately by the works that Jesus did
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on a cross. It's because of his works.
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He kept the perfect law of God and he
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also died for your guilt and for your
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sins. See, a lot of people don't
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understand this when the scripture says
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that Christ uh died for it didn't say
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that Christ just died for the guilt of
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your sins. He says that Christ came so
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to take away sins. Not just the guilt,
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sins. Which means that when Christ died,
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he not only took away your guilt, but he
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also came so that you may have now the
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abundant life. See, the scripture says,
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right, that now that we are married to a
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new principle, the principle of what?
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The spirit.
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Now that we have been saved and now that
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we have been made new, we have done the
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spirit of God residing in you and I. So
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therefore, as a result, we no longer
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live for the pleasures of this world,
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but we live to please God. Okay? So this
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is why the scripture says there's now
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therefore no condemnation for those who
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are in Christ Jesus because now we no
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longer live according to the principle
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of the law because we know we can't keep
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it but we fulfill the law by having the
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Holy Spirit of God living in us and now
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he takes away our ability to sin. So
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that's why we sin less. It's called the
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sanctification process. Now, when you
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are sanctified and you are being
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sanctified every day, you're getting
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closer and closer to what Jesus looks
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like. And ultimately, when Jesus comes
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back, he will redeem you and I. And we
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no longer going to have the capacity to
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sin.
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This is the goal of the Christian life
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to look like Jesus.
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So, your goal now on this side of
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eternity is to strive, as the scripture
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tells us, to work out your salvation
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with trembling and fear.
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I'm so tired of hearing preachers preach
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a cheap gospel, cheap grace. Oh, I'm
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under grace, so therefore I can do what
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I want. That's not what the scripture
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says. If you go to Galatians chapter 5,
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I want to read that to you here. Let's
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go to Galatians chapter 5. I want to
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read um
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um a passage to you here in Galatians.
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Okay, listen to what the scripture says
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in Galatians chapter 5. Um
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this is verse um verse 16 starting there
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listen
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but I say right walk in the spirit and
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you will not gratify the desires of the
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sinful nature which is the flesh. So if
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you walk in the spirit you are no longer
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under the law because the spirit of God
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in you loves the law of God. See when
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God when Jesus died you died with
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Christ. Your body of sin died with
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Christ. So now you are now raised to
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newness of life. This is why this is
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called the resurrected life. Listen. For
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the desires of the flesh, right, are
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against the spirit. And the desires of
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the spirit are against the flesh. For
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these are opposed to each other to keep
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you from doing the things that you want
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to do. But if you are led by the spirit,
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again, if you are led by the spirit, you
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are not under the law. Why? Because when
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you are led by the spirit of God, why do
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you need a law for? Because the spirit
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of God loves the law of God. So as long
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as you are led by the spirit, if you're
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not led by the spirit, then that's
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different. If you are led by the flesh,
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then you're going to feel the things of
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sin. Right? Now, listen to this. Now,
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the works of the flesh are evident. Now,
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he's going to list some of the works of
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the flesh, the old nature. Listen to
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this. Right? Sexual immorality.
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Are you sexually immoral?
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Are you sexually immoral? Right?
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Impurity. Is your mind pure?
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Listen to this. Sensuality. Do you feel
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Do you only live for your senses to
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fulfill your sensuality? Listen to this.
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Right? Idolatry,
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sorcery, witchcraft, enmity, strife.
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Now, a lot of people when we talk about
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sin, they want to focus on like external
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sins like sexual immorality and all of
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that. And then other people, I don't
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struggle with that. So, therefore, I'm
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good. Now, Paul is going to get
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everybody involved here. Listen to this.
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Strife. Are you a person that likes to
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fight people all the time? Jealousy. Are
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you jealous? Fits of anger. Listen to
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that. Fits of anger. Rivalries.
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Basketball. There's rivalries. People
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hate on each other. Dissensions. You
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like to cause dissension between people.
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Listen to this. Divisions. Envy. See, we
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you wouldn't think that envy is also a
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nasty sin, right? Envy. We all have
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that. We get co cover covetous. Somebody
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has something you wanted yourself and
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you've become envious. And God says in
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the scripture in the decalogue that envy
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is not good either. Envy is not a good
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thing. Listen to this right drunkenness
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or
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you see that and things of things like
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this. Paul does not give an exhaustive
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list. There's a lot more things that
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Paul want to talk about but he gives us
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like pretty much a beginning list,
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right? So it's not just the external
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sins like sexual immorality and all of
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that. There's also envy. There's also
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strife. There's also anger. All of those
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things are are the fruits of the flesh.
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And Paul says this, and I'm going to say
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this to you, too. I warn you, and I'm
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warning you, as I warned you before,
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that those who do such things will not
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inherit the kingdom of God. If this is
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your lifestyle, you will not go to
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heaven. You will go to hell. Paul says,
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I'm not saying it. Paul's saying it. If
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this is how you live your life every
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day, if there's no remorse, there's no
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guilt, there's no conviction, and all
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you do every day is live like this,
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according to the scripture, you will not
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inherit the kingdom of God.
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Now, listen to what Paul says next.
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Right? Now, he gives the fruit of the
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spirit, positive, right? He says, "Love
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the love of God." Do you love the law of
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God? Do you love the things of God?
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Right?
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love, joy, peace, we have peace with
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God, peace with other people, patience,
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right? Longsuffering, kindness,
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he didn't say niceness, kindness.
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Kindness is different than being nice,
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right? Goodness, all that is good,
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right? Faithfulness,
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gentleness, are you gentle?
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Self-control. Boy, we need self-control
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in our world today, right? Against such
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things there is no law. Paul is saying
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if you exuding the fruit of the spirit,
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there's no law against that. God does
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not hate self-control. God does not hate
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gentleness. God does not hate kindness.
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God does not hate the love of God. God
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does God does not hate love. He does not
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hate joy. He does not hate peace. All
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those are the fruit of the spirit. And
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he says, "And those who belong to Christ
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Jesus have crucified the flesh and his
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passions and desires."
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So, are you living according to the
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flesh or are you living according to the
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spirit? Just like I said before, to
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understand the gospel, you need to
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understand who God is and you need to
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understand his law. If you don't
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understand the law of God, then you
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don't understand the gospel. Because if
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you truly understand what God demands
19:29
from you and I,
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you become desperate and hopeless. And
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you understand for the first time that
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you are going my friend straight to
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hell. And that's what send you to your
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knees and say I need mercy. Oh pitiful
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man that I am who can save me from this
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body of sin. And you say thanks to Jesus
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Christ for his works on the cross. So a
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lot of people the scripture tells us in
19:51
the biatitudes right blessed are those
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who thirst and hunger after
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righteousness for they shall be filled.
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Blessed are those are those who mourn
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for they will be comforted. Have you
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have you ever mourned over your sin?
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Have you ever mourned for the fact that
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you did things that you knew were wrong?
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Has that has that like led you to your
20:11
knees to the point where you're crying
20:13
to God saying, "Lord, save me for what I
20:15
did then was wrong." Have you done that?
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If you haven't done that, my friend, I
20:20
don't think you know Jesus.
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Because if you truly understand the law
20:24
of God, the only response that you're
20:26
going to have is to fall on your knees
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and to cry for his mercy. Because
20:30
there's one day that the wrath of God
20:32
comes and I'm going to go back to
20:34
Thessalonians and finish this, right?
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I'm going to talk about what
20:37
Thessalonians says about this and then
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we're going to end this little study
20:40
that we had this morning. Listen to
20:42
this. Right? In verse 10 of chapter one
20:44
of First Thessalonians, Paul says to the
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Thessalonians, "And to wait for his son
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from heaven, whom he raised from the
20:51
dead, that is Jesus, who delivers us
20:54
from the wrath to come." Eventually, God
20:57
is going to bring his wrath someday. And
21:00
my question is, are you ready for the
21:02
wrath of God?
21:04
Have you received Jesus Christ as not
21:06
only your savior, but your Lord?
21:08
If you haven't, today is the day of
21:11
salvation.
21:12
You can't say that I didn't hear. I
21:14
didn't know the gun wasn't loaded. No,
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this is the day that the God God has
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made for us to be saved in it. So if you
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are listening to my word today, please I
21:26
I I I exhort you to repent of your sins.
21:30
Leave that lifestyle and ask the Holy
21:32
Spirit to give you the the the ability
21:34
and the desire to love Jesus and to live
21:38
for his his law.
21:40
Okay. I will exalt you again to read
21:42
Thessalonians.
21:43
All right. So this is all I wanted to
21:45
say today. I will see you again next
21:47
Thursday at the same time. All right.
21:49
So, this is going to be online and if
21:50
you have any questions, I'm more than
21:53
happy to answer you. Hi Adrian, thanks
21:55
for coming. Hi Elena, thanks for thanks
21:57
for coming. Hi Michael, I don't know who
21:59
Sneak Sneak Geeks is, but thanks for
22:01
coming. So, we're going to wrap this up
22:02
now and I'll pray for you. So Lord, I
22:04
thank you for this time and I pray that
22:06
as I read your word that your word will
22:08
be the one to do the convicting because
22:10
the scriptures tells us in in in the in
22:12
the book of Matthew chapter 5 uh in the
22:15
John in John 16 that the Holy Spirit is
22:17
going to convict the world of sin and
22:19
judgment and righteousness. So I pray
22:21
that your words does the convicting that
22:23
your word leads them to to understand
22:26
who you are so that they can repent of
22:27
their sins and believe the gospel. And I
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pray this in Jesus name. Amen. All
22:32
right. How you doing, Eric? I'm glad you
22:34
came. Unfortunately, I am closing up
22:37
this lecture. So, I will see you next
22:39
Tuesday. Bye-bye.
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