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Will you spend the rest of your life blaming what is wrong on other people

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and end up ultimately under the wrath of God or will you embrace what God

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offers to you in Jesus Christ?

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Welcome to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith. I’m David Pick and Colin

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I think we can all think of people who do that. And very likely we do it ourselves

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but it sounds as if you’re saying we can move on in Christ.

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Yeah, that’s right. This comes straight out of the book of Deuteronomy where we are

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in this series. Here’s a younger generation of people who have grown up

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in the desert because their parents didn’t have the faith to get into the

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promised land. And all of the parental generation died in the desert, we’re told

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in the Scripture. So, here are younger people who might have spent the rest of

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their lives blaming their parents. But how does that move them forward?

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It doesn’t move them forward at all. And the challenge that Moses brings to them is

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that they must not simply live in the past with recriminations over the

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failures of others. They have to take ownership of obedience and faith in

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their own lives and recognize that the same impulse to unbelief that resides in

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others also resides in us, and it’s only by the grace of Jesus Christ that we can

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move forward. I hope that the series is going to be a real help to many to

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engage in the power of a new beginning.

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So join us if you can today in Deuteronomy chapter 1, in our message

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Change The Future By Owning The Past. Here’s Colin.

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So let me offer to you, from the Scriptures here, six impulses that are in you as they are

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in me, by nature. They’re all right here in front of you in the Scripture.

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Number one, verse 26.

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By nature, I rebel against God.

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Second, by nature I treat God with contempt by nature.

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What I do by nature, what we do is that we hold back praise to God for his goodness,

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and we apportion blame to God whenever we experience evil.

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By nature, I treat the abundant goodness of God with contempt.

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Number three, by nature I blame others.

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Verse 28, notice what they say, our brothers have made us lose heart.

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It’s always the brothers’ fault, isn’t it?

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They say that the people are stronger and taller than we are.

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The reference here, of course, is to the spies coming back, and the spies who brought this

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negative report and brought discouragement to the people.

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And now the people are saying, well it’s all the spies’ fault.

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They’re the ones that discourage us, not my fault, it’s the spies.

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By nature, you recognize this, I blame others for all my problems.

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Number 4, by nature I resist the truth.

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Look at verse 29, here’s Moses speaking to the people, and they’re afraid, and he says,

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now don’t be terrified.

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Don’t be afraid of them, that’s the Canaanites.

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The Lord your God who is going before you will fight for you, just as he did in Egypt

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and in the desert.

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And have you seen how God bares you up as a father carries his own son?

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And Moses is pleading with the people here.

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They’re full of fear, and so what does Moses do?

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As a Prophet, he pours the word of God into their lives.

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But it makes no difference.

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I resist the truth by nature.

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By nature I refused to believe, verse 32.

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You did not trust in the Lord your God who went ahead of you.

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This is the reality of our fallen condition.

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By nature I am suspicious of God.

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By nature, we are unwilling to believe.

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That leads to the sixth thing here.

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By nature.

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I am under the wrath of God.

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Verse 34.

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It’s so clear.

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When the Lord heard what you said, He was angry and solemnly swore, not a man of this

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evil generation will see the good land that I swore to your forefathers.

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And none of them did.

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What this is telling me is that by nature, I am alienated from God, and by nature, I

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am justly under His wrath.

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There is a heaven.

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But folks, by nature, it’s not for me.

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And by nature, it’s not for you either.

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By nature, I have no basis on which to enter into the land of promise that is full of God’s

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good things.

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And Moses is saying so clearly here, now, folks, understand this.

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All of this was in your parents, but don’t think it stopped there because all of it’s

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in you.

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That’s the message.

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Now, this raises an obvious question.

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If everything, think about it, if everything that kept your parents out of Canaan is also

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in you?

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If everything that kept them out is also in you, then what hope is there of you ever getting

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into the promise land?

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That’s the question, isn’t it?

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If all that kept them out now is also in me, what hope is there of me ever getting in?

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Let me tell you what won’t help you very briefly, and then what will.

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First, what won’t help you?

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Turning over a new leaf won’t help you.

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And the reason I mention that today is simply because of verses 41 to 46 that you can look

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over or read later that tell us that when the people realized how badly they had messed

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up, their response was, hey, we can sort it out, all we need to do is turn over a new

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leaf.

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We said we weren’t going to go up to Canaan, now all we need to do is change our minds,

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we’ll go up to Canaan.

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And so they decide they’re going to go up to Canaan after all.

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But verse 42, God said to them, don’t go up, because I will not be with you and you will

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be defeated by your enemies.

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But they weren’t listening to God, they were sure they could sort out their own problem,

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nothing that I’ve messed up that I can’t fix.

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And so they went up to Canaan, and you’ll read from the story there they were completely

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and utterly routed and defeated.

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See, the problem is that turning over a new leaf doesn’t change what is in you by nature.

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All that happens when you turn over a new leaf is that what’s in you gets written on

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a new page.

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Have you discovered that in life?

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So what hope is there for these people?

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If it’s not turning over a new leaf, where’s the hope?

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Turn with me over perhaps a couple of pages in Deuteronomy, to Deuteronomy chapter 5.

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Would you do that?

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Deuteronomy chapter 5, because here I want you to see something that is wonderfully strange,

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that if you have grasped what we’ve been learning so far will be light, and will bring

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hope and joy to your heart.

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Deuteronomy chapter 5 verse 1.

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Moses summoned all Israel, and said—and look at what he said verse 2, and watch out

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for what’s strange and surprising here—the Lord our God made a covenant with us at Horeb—you

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see what’s surprising about that?

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How many of us are under 40?

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Were we even born at Horeb?

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No.

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How many of us are between 40 and 58?

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Do we remember much about Horeb?

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God made a covenant with our parents, didn’t he?

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But you see what Moses is saying here.

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It’s the same issue as we have right back there in Chapter 1.

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And Moses is saying to us, the Lord our God made a covenant with us at Horeb.

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I think I would be saying, wait a minute Moses, I know you’re over 100 and I know when you

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get over 100, it gets a little difficult to remember things, but please Moses, can you

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remember that the covenant that God made at Horeb, most of us weren’t even born.

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The rest of us who were can’t even remember it.

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That covenant was made by God with our parents, not with us.

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And Moses would say, now you just listen.

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I’m telling you that the covenant God made at Horeb when most of you weren’t born and

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those of you who were can hardly even remember it, I’m telling you that God made that covenant

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with us.

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And if you think I’m making too much of that, look at what he says in verse three.

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It was not with our fathers that the Lord made this covenant, but with us, with all

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of us who are alive here today, you see what he’s saying?

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God has made a covenant before you were born and it is truly for you and I’m here today

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to say from the heart and from the Bible that God has made a covenant of grace before any

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of us were ever born.

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And it is for you, and that covenant is that he will redeem sinners who are locked in unbelief

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and contempt for God and rebellion and blaming others and under the wrath of God, that covenant

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is that God has determined to redeem people like us through his son Jesus Christ.

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And this covenant folks was heard not written on tablets of stone.

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This covenant that God sealed before you were born is sealed in the blood of the Lord Jesus

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Christ.

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So I want you to stand today, in your mind right now to stand, not at the foot of Mount

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Sinai with all of these Israelites, but at the bottom of another mountain that is called

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Calvary.

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And as you look up to what is going on there.

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You see that there is a man hanging on a cross, and he is the Son of God.

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His body is being torn.

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And his blood is being poured out.

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And he says now, my body is given for you.

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And through the shedding of this blood I’m sealing a new covenant in which your sins

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and all that is in you is to be forgiven.

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You’re listening to Open The Bible with pastor Colin Smith and our message Change

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The Future by Owning the Past.

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We went back and looked at the most popular messages over the past twelve months both

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downloads and requests, and this one came up with that list.

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And we’ve compiled that list under the title Listener’s Favourites, so we’ll be following

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that list all this month.

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So I hope you will be able to stay with us.

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Don’t forget if you ever miss a broadcast you can always catch up or go back by listening

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online.

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To get more information about the event available on the bible.org website, openthebible.org.uk.

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Back to the message now.

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We’re in Deuteronomy chapter one.

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Here’s Colin.

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Folks think about this.

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Two great events that shape your life.

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Two great events that shape my life and they happened before any of us were ever born.

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What’s in you by nature goes all the way back to the Garden of Eden and what is yours

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all the way back to the cross of the Lord Jesus Christ.

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That’s why the title of this message is that you change the future by owning the past

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and owning the past of what is mine by nature is what the Bible calls repentance.

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I need to own what is in me by nature.

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I need to be absolutely clear about what I’m up against in living this Christian life.

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Lord, by nature I am a rebel who treats your kindness with content and blames others and

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resists your word and refuses to believe and deserves to be under your righteous judgment.

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Owning what is in you by nature is where repentance begins and how it continues.

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As long as you’re trying to tell yourself what a great and good person you are, you

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can never make progress in the Christian life.

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And owning what is mine by grace is what the Bible calls faith.

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I need to own what is mine by grace to know who Jesus Christ is for me and what it is

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that He has done for me and what He offers to me.

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By grace God has made a covenant for you.

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He sent his Spirit to empower you as his Son has come to redeem you, and faith looks at

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all that Jesus Christ has accomplished for our forgiveness and all that the Spirit brings

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by way of power for a new life and faith says, this is mine.

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It’s mine.

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So, repentance begins when I own what is mine by nature and faith begins when I own what

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is mine by grace.

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This is the very heart of the Christian life right here.

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And so, you see the drama of this moment, this new generation, no one over than 58 or

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thereabouts are standing there on the verge of Jordan and Moses is now speaking with great

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passion to these people.

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Moses remembers well, better than most of them can, how their parents had turned back

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and how unbelief had wasted a whole generation and brought such pain and such tragedy to

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them all.

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And now the question that Moses holds before them in the book of Deuteronomy is what are

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you going to do?

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We’re going to face all the same fears, all the same struggles, all the same temptations

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that are in human nature.

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Are you going to follow what’s in you by nature or are you going to receive what is yours

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by grace?

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That’s the question.

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That’s the question for you tonight.

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Will you follow the impulse of unbelief that is in you?

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Really?

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Will you follow the impulse to hear God’s word but let it be water off a duck’s back

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that never really changes you?

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Will you follow the impulse that is in you to treat God’s mercy towards you with contempt

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and to turn away?

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Will you spend the rest of your life blaming what is wrong on other people and end up ultimately

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under the wrath of God?

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That’s the question!

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Or will you embrace what God offers to you in Jesus Christ — the covenant that was

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made before you were born, but it was made for you?

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Will you turn from your unbelief and from your rebellion and from your pride and trust

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the Saviour who loves you and gave Himself for you?

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One more thing to say before we wrap up here.

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I know that whenever the preacher uses the words, repentance and faith, there are many

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of us who immediately draw the conclusion.

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He’s talking now to unbelievers.

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He’s now talking about what unbelievers need to do in order to become Christians,

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and that’s true.

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But there’s more to it than that.

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Repentance and faith, owning what is in you by nature, owning what Christ offers to you

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by grace.

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Repentance and faith are not only what unbelievers do in order to become Christians.

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Repentance and faith are what believers do to live as Christians.

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That is fundamental to understanding the Christian life.

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Otherwise what you have is simply a decision that leaves you unchanged.

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God calls us to a life of repentance and of faith.

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A life, folks, in which we sustain the ongoing struggle against the impulses of what is in

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us by nature by laying hold of what Jesus Christ gives us by grace.

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There is no other way to live the Christian life.

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So if I am to live the Christian life this week, if you are to live as a Christian this

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week and do it well, you need to be absolutely realistic about what is in you by nature.

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By nature lord, I’m a rebel, who treats your kindness with contempt and blames other people

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for my problems and resists your word and refuses to believe, all this is in me and

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so every day I have a fight on my hands.

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Do you experience that?

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And if I am to live this Christian life and to engage in that struggle I need to lay hold

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of all that Jesus Christ is for me.

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The son of god loves me, he gave himself for me.

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He reigns in heaven and what it means is that nothing that happens in my life comes to me

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except through his loving hands, and I certainly do not understand all that he allows and all

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that he brings in my life and all that he does in my life but honestly I do not expect

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to because God is sovereign in heaven and sees eternity and I’m just a man here on

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the earth in a little capsule of time.

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But I do know that I am forgiven.

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And I do know that I am not under his wrath.

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I do know that I live in his mercy.

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I do know that I am never alone because he walks beside me.

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I know that I can trust him because the son of God has given himself for me and he’s

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triumphed over death in his mighty resurrection and he’s for me even in my darkest hour.

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Folks, that’s faith.

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And honestly, you know, it is possible to be a Christian atheist.

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A Christian atheist is a guy that goes through life saying I believe in God but lives as

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if he didn’t exist.

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You say you believe, but you don’t actually trust him in anything that’s actually happening

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in your life.

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That’s what happened to this generation that died in the desert.

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It’s possible to go through life bearing the name of Christ, receiving the provision

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of Christ, hearing the promises of Christ, to profess faith but not actually to trust

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him.

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That’s the battle I’m going to face this week and that’s the battle you are going

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to face this week.

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To live by faith.

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And to own in what I face this week who Jesus is and all that he is for me.

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It’s my Lord, my Redeemer and my Saviour who walks every step of the way.

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Just this week I had the joy of sharing an evening in a home with a very small group

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of pastors.

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There was someone there from Moody, there were a couple of marvellous guys, pastors

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who were serving in the city, and a few others.

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We had gathered to meet privately with an archbishop from Africa.

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The conversation ranged as we spoke about the challenges of ministry in America, you

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know, the whole deal of the cultural tide that is against us.

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The shallowness of faith in so many churches.

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We heard about the kinds of pressures that our brothers and our sisters in Christ in

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Africa are so often facing.

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And Lon Alison was there, and as the conversation had been going on for a while, he jumped in.

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He said, You know, you guys have made me feel quite miserable.

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He said, it seems like you guys have forgotten that Jesus Christ rose from the dead.

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Now I reckon it takes a little bit of courage to tell a group of pastors, you’ve forgotten

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that Jesus Christ rose from the dead.

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But I’ll tell you, when he said that, and then from there, he kind of launched into

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speaking of the risen Christ who has never failed his church and never will.

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The whole conversation lifted.

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Faith.

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My prayer is that even now, God would breathe into your soul, faith, that you would see

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that in all of your battles and in all of your struggles, and some of them may be indescribably

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intense, Christ is for you.

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That you would embrace him with faith for everything that you are facing today and this

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week and that you by God’s mercy would be able to say if this God is for me, then who

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can be against me.

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Pastor Colin Smith there with a helpful reminder that repentance and faith are not only what

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we do as unbelievers in order to become Christians, but repentance and faith are what we do to

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live the Christian life.

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You’re listening to Open The Bible with Pastor Colin Smith and our message today is called

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change the future by owning the past.

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It’s one of the most popular and most asked for broadcasts of the last 12 months and we’ve

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compiled all the popular ones into a series called listeners favorites.

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If you missed any of the series, don’t forget you can always go back, listen again online.

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At our website, OpenTheBible.org.uk or by finding us as a podcast on your favourite

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podcast site, by searching for Open The Bible UK.

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Open The Bible is supported entirely by our listeners, people just like you.

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And if that’s something you’ve been considering doing, we have an offer for you this month

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to say thank you for your support.

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If you’re able to set up a new payment to the work of Open The Bible, in the amount

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of £5 per month or more, this month we’d love to thank you by sending you Pastor Colin’s

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new book, Flying through the Bible.

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Colin, why did you use the flying metaphor to describe this book?

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Well, suppose you were making a visit to the Grand Canyon and exploring it for the first

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time.

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I mean, I guess you could hike down and you’d get a sense of the depth of the canyon.

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You could drive round the rim, you’d get a sense of the length of it.

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But perhaps the best way to get an overall sense of the vastness and beauty of the Grand

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Canyon would be to take a flight over it.

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Now when it comes to the Bible, to get a high altitude overview of what the Bible’s story

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is all about seems to me to be the best place to begin.

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The Bible really is one story, it begins in a garden, it ends in a city, and all the way

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through, it’s about the Lord Jesus Christ.

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And then flying through the Bible is kind of cookies on the bottom shelf, to change

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the analogy, it gives an overall picture, an introduction to the scripture, that I hope

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will help and encourage people to want to explore more when they get on the ground.

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Well, we’d love to send you two copies of Pastor Colin’s book, Flying Through the Bible,

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to say thank you for setting up a new donation to the work of Open the Bible in the amount

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00:24:59,939 –> 00:25:03,040

of five pounds per month, or more this month.

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Full details on our website and you can give online as well.

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For Pastor Colin Smith and Open the Bible, I’m David Pick, and I hope you’ll come and

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join us again soon.

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Some people who experience life’s greatest sorrows, also discover its greatest joys.

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Find out how this happens next time on Open the Bible