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Will you find your copy of God’s Word and turn with us again back to the book of Romans. Chapter number one in my intentions tonight are to finish the first section of the first chapter. So that is going to be verses six and seven. But I’m going to begin reading in verse number one for context purposes. So if you’re able to stand in reference to the word and I ask you to do so.

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ROMANS Chapter one, beginning in verse number one, and we’re singling out verses six and seven for our consideration tonight. All right. ROMANS One verse number one. If you have your place there. Church we say Mayor Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the gospel of God, which he had promised before by his prophets in the Holy Scriptures concerning his Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection, from the dead, by whom we have received grace and a parcel ship for obedience to

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the faith among all nations for his name. Now our two verses versus six and seven, among whom are also the called of Jesus Christ. To all that be in Rome, beloved of God, called to be saints, grace to you and peace from God, our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Now, I’m going to stop there tonight and allow you to be seated.

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That’s one sentence in the opening remarks here of the Book of Romans. And tonight, if the Lord permits and if I don’t get hung up on some issue, we’re going to finish this first section. What’s going to permit us, which is going to permit us, Lord willing, to move on to some additional information, Lord willing, in Sunday nights to come where verse by verse in Romans right now we barely got started.

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So if you’re a newcomer with us here, this is a good time to be joining in with us. And these opening remarks of the Apostle Paul between verses one through seven are giving us his introduction to the church at Rome that Paul did not start the church at Rome. We’re not exactly sure who who started the church at Rome.

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We just know that the Apostle Paul had a personal affection for the church at Rome, and he always desired to visit them and always desired to see them. And so when he writes to them, he opens up the letter with his name and verse number one, and then he begins to certify his apostle ship immediately, because there were some question about whether the Apostle Paul was an actual apostle or not, having been, as he said, born out of due season and having not been with Jesus and the other 12, there was some skeptics skepticism about the Apostle Paul certification.

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So he he begins to talk about those things early in the chapter. And then when we get to verses six and seven, he said, You know what? Let me for let me for context purposes actually just point out something in verse five, he’s talking about Christ and he says in verse number five By whom or by Christ. We have received grace and apostle ship for obedience to the faith among all nations for his name.

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And then he continues that thought in verses six and seven by saying among whom are ye also the called of Jesus Christ to all that be in Rome, beloved of God called There it is again to be saints, Grace to you in peace from God, the Father God, our Father in the Lord Jesus Christ. This is actually the third time that He uses the term called in these first seven verses.

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You might notice it in verse number one. He says, Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, number one. The second time, verse six, he said, You are also the called of Jesus Christ, second occurrence. And then the third occurrence in verse number seven, that all to all that be in Rome, beloved of God and what call called to be saints.

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So you can’t ignore this repetitive theme of the Apostle Paul when he uses this term call, call command. And we have emphasized that in a different in a different discussion earlier in this opening section. But tonight, I really want to tighten the screws down on them. And I want to make a statement, if I may, before we go too much further here.

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All right. Can we be real? Are we family here tonight? Can I be real with you all? Okay. I’m not against putting somebody in a headlock. If they misquote me. I’m not against them, all right? I’m just about bigger than anybody in here. Maybe. Maybe one or two exceptions, but male or female doesn’t matter if you go away from here tonight and call me something that I’m not, I’m going to put you in a headlock.

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I won’t choke you. Are we clear in Jesus name? All right. Just brothers and sisters tonight, there is a a false teaching that I have been accused of on occasion. And it is hyper Calvinism. Now, I am not a fan of Hyper Calvinism because I’m not a fan of any ism. Anything that has ism on the end of it probably comes from some extra biblical teaching that can’t be supported with the Bible.

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So they have to add somebody’s name to it, like Armenian ism or Calvinism or something of that nature. Sooner or later there may be some Bailey isms. I’m not sure. But what I do know is that what the Bible teaches is enough. It doesn’t have to be exaggerated. And I want to just if I may begin by discussing that issue for just a moment before we get to what the Bible actually says, Hyper Calvinism has been some summarized with five points.

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It’s called the Tulip. T standing for total depravity. U standing for unconditional election, all standing for limited atonement. I standing for irresistible grace and peace, standing for the perseverance of the saints. If you were to ask me tonight, Pastor Bailey, do you believe in depravity? My immediate kneejerk answer to you would be yes. And then you would say why?

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My knee jerk reaction would be because the Bible teaches it. What the Bible doesn’t teach, however, is total depravity. It’s unfortunate that Hyper Calvinist chose to add that adjective to that biblical concept. The Bible teaches depravity. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God. How many have sinned? All have sinned. There’s a saturation of depravity.

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The Bible says all we like sheep have gone astray. How many have gone astray? All of us. The Bible says there is none good. No, not one. How many good are there? None. The Bible says there are none. Righteous. It says there are. There are none that seek after God. These are all Bible verses. But when you add to the term to the biblical concept of depravity.

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When you add the modifier total depravity, you begin to diminish what God actually said by adding something exaggerated to what God originally intended. Are you with me so far? The U. Unconditional election. Pastor, Do you believe an election? I sure do. Do you believe an unconditional election? No. It’s unfortunate that that exaggerated term got connected to such a beautiful Bible doctrine.

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You see, I love the teachings of the election, but I hate Calvinism. The reason I hate Calvinism is because it adds to what God originally said. God already said He’s in charge. And I don’t think there’s anybody in this building that would argue with that. He’s sovereign. Right? Let me just help you understand that if you’re not with me on this, you didn’t go looking for him.

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He came looking for you. He said in his word, You have not chosen me. But I have chosen you. I have no problem with the words the Bible. It’s when we add something to the words of the Bible to create an exaggerated, a doctrine. It’s when we run into problems. Ill, limited atonement. Do I believe in the atonement?

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I do. Do I believe it’s limited? Absolutely not. Absolutely not. I irresistible grace. Do I believe in grace? You can answer that out loud if you think you know the right answer. I sure do. Do I believe it’s irresistible? No. P The only one that I fully agree with is the perseverance of the Saints. I think they got that right.

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But of those five points, it has been suggested that you can be a 1.2., 3.4. or five point Calvinist. And one of my greatest mentors said he is a two and a half point Calvinist. I think it’s unfortunate that he chose to use the term Calvinist, but he said he’s a two and a half point Calvinist believing in the perseverance of the Saints, believing in the total depravity and believing half of irresistible grace, a two and a half point Calvinist.

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I’m not here to acknowledge any of those points or to fight about any of those points tonight. I’m just simply here to go verse by verse through the book of Romans. And before we get started, I want to have an agreement. Let’s let the Bible do the talking. Are we in agreement on that? If we go into any extra biblical conversation tonight, it will take away from God from what God said in the most perfect and beautiful way that it can be said, called, called.

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When my mother wanted to gather us together for supper after a long day at school, we came home, dropped our books and our homework off, changed out of our good clothes, and went out in the yard to to frolic around and play in the dirt and get nasty and get dirty. And then my mother and all the other neighborhood mothers would step out on the porch and she would call us by name.

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And if we didn’t answer the first time, she’d call us by our whole name. Can I get a witness on that? She would say, Brad and Chad. That’s my twin brother. If we said, Oh, just five more minutes. Just five more minutes. Supper’s getting cold. Mama would step out and she’d say, Joshua, Brad and Jason Jane. And if we didn’t answer at that point, she came looking.

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And my mama was an educator. She believed in the Board of Education. Can I get a witness? She was also an athlete. She did the baton and I did the ball. And you didn’t. You did not ignore Mama’s call. Otherwise she would show you who’s in charge. So the concept of a calling, I’m romanticize, missing it just a little bit with a familiar story to hopefully create some interest on your part.

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But the concept of God calling you and I to salvation is a thoroughly biblical concept. And I want to point that out in Paul’s writings here in Chapter one, verse number six, he says, among whom Ye also you are also excuse me, among whom are ye also the called of Jesus Christ. Now, if this was a generic calling, then he would not have used what we call in Greek grammar a definite article.

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When a definite article is used normally in the English language, it translates into the word the. If my mom stood out on the porch and said, Boys come to supper. That’s subject to interpretation, isn’t it? Which boys? No. So she did not give a generic call. She gave a specific call. She called Chad and I by name. And when we talk about this calling in Romans one six, he uses the term V to identify this calling and distinguish this calling from any other calling that you might have received in your life.

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He says, ye are also the called. That means there’s some people who have been called and there’s some people who have not been called. But we thankfully fit into the description of V called. He would later use this term and of when he said when he talked about the trials of our life and he talked about, you know, persevering and so on and so forth.

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And he would he would use that term when he said you are V called in Christ Jesus in several other descriptions. And I think I’m just going to take you on a little assignment with me tonight since there’s just us in the Lord here. Let’s spend a little time together. Take your Bible. Stay in Romans with a bookmark or a finger or something, but turn with me one book over to first Corinthians.

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I want you to see this with your own eyes, because the Bible is sufficient to convince us. Go with me, if you would, to first Corinthians chapter one, verse two, just to show you that isn’t a fluke. It’s not a mistake. It is not some slip of the tongue. It would be helpful if we could identify a similar term.

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Similar terminology in a separate book. Would you agree? Chapter one First Corinthians verse two Under the Church of God, which is at Corinth to them that are sanctified in Christ Jesus. And what does it say? Church called to be saints. Well, if that’s not enough, drop down to verse nine. God is faithful By whom ye were what called unto the fellowship of His Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord, Who did the calling our faithful God?

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If that’s not enough, maybe we could look at verse 20 to continue with May 1st Corinthians one, verse 22, this time for the Jews require a sign and the Greeks seek after wisdom. But we preach Christ crucified under the Jews, a stumbling block under the Greeks foolishness, but unto them, which are called both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God.

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Them who are called drop down, if you would please, to verse number 26 for you see your calling brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh. Now, I can add something here without doing an injustice to the passage. So let me please do that. Not many wise men after the flesh are called, not many mighty are called, not many noble are called.

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And then he goes on in verse number 27 and just seals the deal perfectly. But God have chosen the foolish things of this world to confound the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty. So he gives us the term chosen in verses and verse number 27, and we discover from the grammar of that passage that that term is interchangeable with a word called.

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It is the same concept called chosen, called chosen. This is significant. It’s significant because it is the basis of the theological term that we call monarchies. Now I’m going to try to keep the fruit hanging low here so everybody can enjoy it. There are two opposing theological teachings. One is called synergism and one is called monotheism. Let’s start with synergism.

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The prefix y in in the word synergism is the prefix that gives us the terminology. That means with it is it is understood to mean accompaniment. So synergism is the teaching about salvation that teaches that we help God save us. That’s synergism. Our church thoroughly rejects that concept. If you’re saved, God saved you. Are you with me? Thank you so much for that.

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Because I was feeling mighty alone there for a few moments. If you’re saved, the Bible is right. Salvation is of the Lord right now. And if your salvation experience gives you any room to boast, you better park it. Because it says this grace we received of him. It’s by grace through faith. We are saved in that grace, not not of ourselves.

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It is the gift of God, not of works. What less any man should boast. So your salvation to be legit has to be a salvation that gives God 100% of the glory and 100% of the credit. Are you with me? Yeah. That means I didn’t get seed when I prayed a prayer. Now I pray to prayer and I’m thankful I did pray a prayer.

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And that’s the way they led me to pray a prayer. But technically, tonight, on a Sunday night, can we talk? Technically, the prayer is not what saved me. Are you with me? Yes. Otherwise, we’re adding liturgy to our SO teleology. We’re adding liturgy to our salvation experience. And that makes it synergism. What we actually teach is monotheism. Monotheism is the teaching that God and God alone is responsible for our salvation.

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And God and God alone receives 100% of the credit and 100% of the glory for us being saved. Now, if you want to boast, tell me what you going to boast about. Are you going to say, Well, I’m saved cause I’m a Baptist? No, no, you’re not going to get far with me on that. You might say, Well, I’m saved cause I’m white.

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You’re not going to get far with me on that. You might say, Well, I’m saved because I’m an American. That’s not helping the conversation either. Let me tell you why you were saved. Because God called you to salvation. He dispatched the Holy Ghost and said, Go get that one. And when the Spirit of God, who the old timers used to call the Hound of Heaven, when the Hound of Heaven got on your trail, he went, Leave you alone.

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Now, here’s why I’m not a Calvinist. You probably said no the first time, didn’t you? And you probably said no the second time, and you might have even said no a third and the fourth time. But I bet you if I were to poll the audience tonight, I bet you that the majority of testimonies in here, if you have a sound testimony, your testimony would sound something like this.

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The day I got saved, I was convinced that was my last chance. Why? Because when the Holy Spirit begins to tighten down the spiritual screws on your life, convincing you that you are lost. Breaking your heart. Convicting you of sin and drawing you to the Lord. You didn’t understand it and you didn’t know it when it was happening.

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But that was God initiating your salvation and you could not be saved otherwise. You see, when my wife and I were just courting together, I remember the day I gave her my class ring and it was way too big for her face, what you used to do. You know, we had sent text messages and foolishness. We used to give each other class ring, Right?

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And I gave her my class ring. And that was her way of saying, I am yours and you are mine. Oh. Ever had boundaries? Close. This is close right now. He Mannum, where you go. But then we broke up and then we got back together. And then we broke up. And then we got back together because there was this former boyfriend she had who kept popping his ugly face up.

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I finally had to squash him out. But I remember one time when we were separated, and I remember on that occasion having certain feelings of affection for her. I believe I loved her and her heart had turned back toward me on that particular occasion, too. But we had been together and apart a couple of times and I wasn’t sure it would work again.

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She wasn’t sure it would work again. And so we had a friend in school, and that friend in school went to her and said, How do you feel about Brad? And she said, You know what? I think he’s the one. And then that friend came to me and said, How do you feel about she? And I said, Man, I can’t get her off my mind.

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And then that friend went to her and said, Hey, he actually likes you. And she said, Really? And then that friend came back to me and said, She’s excited that you like her. And she’s excited. You see, that is how you and God were brought together. The Spirit of God came to you and said, you know, God really loves you and God wants you and God desires you to.

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This is the calling. This is the calling. We might call it conviction, but it’s the same thing. And the Spirit of God then would go to God and say, Lord, their heart is getting tender and they’re interested. And and then this minor just relationship in which God got all the glory. Because why? Because he dispatched the Holy Spirit to you.

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Even though you were responsible for responding, it was a way of God getting glory out of your life and mine. When we responded positively to the Holy Spirit. And by the way, if I could just throw in a little extra. The Bible says that we are to discipline our children and it says it like this in the Book of Proverbs, where you’re chasing your son, B times the word times.

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My mama thought it meant chasing your sons behind. That’s not exactly what it means. But Jason, the son B times the word. But times means early. That’s an important thought. Don’t. Don’t discipline your kid for something they did a month ago. They’re not going to remember. You got to do it early. Right. But then the next part of that verse outstanding, it says, And thou shalt save his soul.

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Interesting connection. Why is that? Because when a parent disciplines their child and trains their child to have a submissive response to correction, not defiance, not bristling up and getting angry and opposing correction, but yielding to that correction. When you do that to your child as a teacher, as a kid, and then one day when the Holy Ghost comes, call and they’re used to submitting to discipline, it is important that you answer the call to salvation.

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You say, Well, how do I know I’ve done that? Well, you’re here. I talked to a guy one time. He want to know, how do I know if I’m elect a So let me ask you a question. You love the Bible? He said, Yeah, I love it. So you love the church, You go to church, you give you do all those things.

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I said, those are all symbols that that God has called you into salvation. He was astonished because he was struggling with whether or not he had been chosen or not. Look at. That’s not for us to debate. That’s God’s business. She said, Well, how do we know that we’re witnessing to a person who’s been called or not? We don’t.

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So guess what we do? We witness to everyone who will give us a listening ear. And now I have to go on. He says in verse number six, This is a blessed state, isn’t it? Verse six among whom are ye? Also the called of Jesus Christ. Definite Article V called. Called by who? Jesus Christ. And then He gives his salutation.

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Who’s he writing to? I’m writing to all that. Be in Rome, beloved of God, Call to be saints. And then this grace to you. And peace from God, our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Now I just want to point out if I, if I may, in brevity, there are great truths in verse number seven. This is the conclusion of Paul’s greeting, and he concludes by identifying his audience.

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First of all, you are beloved of God. Can I ask you a question? Who did the first Loving Jesus said You have loved me because why? I first loved you. He loved you before you loved him. Can we admit that tonight?

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Who did the first initiating? He’s the one who initiated it. So this is consistently laid out before our very eyes right here in this passage of scripture. He calls them saints. They are called to be saints. And then he starts adding these synonyms with saints. What is a saint? Well, if you want to get really simple, it’s somebody who’s beloved of God.

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What is a saint is somebody who’s received grace. What is a saint is somebody who has received peace from God. Did you whomp up your own peace or did you get that from God? Right. You don’t get peace from Dr. Phil and Oprah. You don’t get peace from watching The View. Lord have mercy. You don’t get peace from Fox News.

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You don’t get. You don’t get peace from the Tampa. Where do you get peace? You get peace when God gives it to you. And Jesus said, I’ll take care of that, too. You see, my point here is everything that you qualify as a salvation experience. He did it. He gave you the faith. He gave you the repentance. He did the convicting.

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He did the calling. And once you responded positively, did you create peace? No. He did that to security. He takes care of that, too. You’re not keeping you. He’s keeping you. Are you with me? He does the saving. He does the keeping. We call it monotheism. It’s all him. You get that? So if he did all this work for us to be saved, what does he get out of it?

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He gets you. And a humble spirit had to just fall over this congregation. You say he gets what he got You. A very imperfect. Right. So you see, the teachings that are given here are not arrogant. It’s very humbling, isn’t it? And so, God, the Father in eternity passed in some pre determinate council. I don’t have the vocabulary to describe it.

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And so I’ll just give it my most feeble attempt attempt. And then we’ll be done in eternity. Past God, the Father and God, the Son and God, the Holy Spirit had some conversation and it was agreed that a less than Angel race would be created. That’s you. And that’s me. You’re no angel. Neither am I.

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Why didn’t you just keep one? I mean, he had the angels. He had the angels, wasn’t He’d ask for. You see, the angels are hardwired, right? Holy, holy, Holy Lord, God Almighty. And when the angels did disobey, he didn’t even try to save them. He thumped them round in the hail. You know why? Because God did not desire communion from the angels.

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God in the angels are not a relationship of fellowship. It’s a relationship of master and servant. They are because Hebrews calls them Minister the ring spirits. So they do exactly what he tells them to do. His dictates are obeyed to the letter. And God said, We’re going to create this race in our image. The angels are not created in God’s image.

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The angels do not have body, soul and spirit like we do. And so just like there’s Father, Son and Holy Spirit, there’s body, soul and spirit in you. You’re the only thing on this earth creating his image, not your pits. Can I get a witness? Not your pine tree, not the red headed woodpecker. You’re the only thing that was created in God’s image.

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So much so that when a woman is expecting a baby, she is the host of two souls in one body. It’s an incredible miracle, isn’t it? And God told Jesus and the Holy Spirit. I am going to create them. And they will be different from the Angels because they will have a will. And that will is going to violate my will.

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And the romance of redemption began. Original sin was introduced into the human race by the first Adam. I listen to this very closely, God said, because of that original sin. Jesus, you will have to go and save them. But you cannot save them unless you become one of them. And Jesus said, I’ll do it. I’m imagining that that is something similar to what the conversation might have been.

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Jesus said, I’ll do it. And God said, But Jesus, it is going to be excruciating and painful. You’re going to have to leave your home as the first missionary to go to a foreign land and win them to you. But I want to make you a promise. I am going to reserve the right to call them into the family of God.

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And when I call them into the family of God, I’m going to give them to you as a wedding gift. And Jesus said, I’ll take them. And every one of you that the father gave to Jesus came to Jesus. And not one was lost. John, 17. Now, can I just have five more minutes? And Jesus said, That’s an incredible gift.

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And God said to Jesus, Maybe you shouldn’t be so excited because one of them’s Jeremy Boggs. Maybe you shouldn’t be so beside yourself excited because one of them is Bart Meacham. Jesus took a look at you all and he said, he said, But let me tell you something about those two. He said, I am going to put the Holy Ghost in their heart that never happened to an angel for and they are going to be and dwelt by the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit is going to coach them to love you.

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They won’t be able to love you on their own, but the Holy Ghost will coach them to love you. And the longer the Holy Ghost is in them, the more they’ll love you. And he said, Jesus, they won’t be much, but I’m going to put a song in their mouth. A song? And he said, Yeah, Jesus. They’ll walk around all the time singing and making melody.

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Psalms. And hymns and spiritual song. They’ll be motivated by the Holy Ghost inside of them to sing songs about you. Some of them will even write some. And they’re going to write it totally about you. They’re going to so adore you and so love you and so cherish you that your blood when it atones and and remits their sin, they are going to be in my eyes, a perfect match for you.

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And now let’s reverse engineer this in the 60 seconds, maybe that I have left without the Holy Ghost. Are you a perfect match for Jesus?

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If God had not saved you, if God you understand something with me, if you can’t remember this, write it down. He reached way further down than you could reach up so well. I cooperated. I know. But when God saved you for it to match you perfectly with his son, he had to do the saving and the changing. Do you see that?

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And he has. Don’t. Don’t be an American before you’re Christian. Let’s talk Christian terminology here. He has arranged a marriage with his son, and we are the bride of Christ. And when he comes, he is going to find that bride dressed in garments that are made of the righteousness of Jesus Christ. If I were to take cake there, or maybe Seth and one of these little ones, or maybe Oliver, whoever, and if I were to bring them up here and take off my coat and put that on them, it would be more than they could wear.

00;36;53;25 – 00;37;19;13
It would cover them of some of them. I could probably cover them from the tip of their head to the bottom of their feet. You couldn’t even see them. Well, that’s you in the righteousness of Christ. He doesn’t even see you anymore because you are covered by the righteousness of his son. Don’t monkey with that. Do you? That’s the way God did it.

00;37;19;15 – 00;37;45;11
And we don’t have the sense to try to modify that. That’s the only salvation. That’ll get you to heaven. There was a story that Jesus told about somebody who came to the wedding without a garment, and he said, What are you doing here? And they said, Well, we just heard there was a wedding. So we came. He said, Yeah, but you can’t come in here without a garment.

00;37;45;13 – 00;38;17;12
And he booted them out. What is the illustration there? You can want to go to heaven, but until you are clothed in the righteousness of Christ, you are not qualified to go. And in that arrangement you get to go to heaven. But he gets the credit. You see how this works? Monotheism, Not Calvinism, not extremism. Biblical call to salvation.

00;38;17;14 – 00;38;46;11
Will you pray with us together, Father? Your word is sufficient for everything. We need to know. And tonight, Father, as we have gathered together, is as a body around the word. We’ve been hopefully stirred and fed. I love the old sort. The old song says, Tell me the old, old story. And it says, And one of those old hymns, it said, There’s some who have never heard.

00;38;46;14 – 00;39;12;24
But then there are those of us that are extremely familiar with it. And there’s not much that I’ve said tonight that we didn’t already know. But hearing it again, the Spirit of God was able to use it to stir our hearts, to give the credit to whom it is due. Jesus saves what can wash away my eyes and nothing but the blood of Jesus.

00;39;12;26 – 00;39;23;29
Lord, we give you all the credit for our salvation. You did it and you did it well. We thank you for it. In Jesus name. In Jesus name.