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Here is the great mystery and
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glory at the centre of all true Christian faith, that Jesus is the Son of
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God, the disciples didn’t pretend to understand that but they did believe it
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and they followed Jesus with a faith that seeks understanding and that is
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how we must follow Him too because that is the only way to follow Him.
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Welcome to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith. I’m David Pick. I’m glad you could be
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with us today and Colin I love that idea, Faith that seeks understanding.
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Well it’s certainly not a phrase that was unique to me that’s a very famous phrase
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from the history of the church that has often been used. It’s a great phrase
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because it reminds us that we can’t come to truth by intellect only
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Can’t stand sort of detached from the Bible and come and make my analysis and
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expect to have understanding. It’s God who gives light, and the light is in His
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Word but the light comes as one submits oneself to the light and opens one’s
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heart to the light. So faith that seeks understanding. A trust in Christ that
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wants to learn more, that’s the way of spiritual growth.
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I suppose if you stop and think about the fact that when many of us came to
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know Christ we only knew a tiny amount of the truth that He eventually reveals
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to us in His Word. It’s a marvellous thing that we’re not saved by the amount
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that we understand. I mean where would that leave a simple child? And yet there
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is truth to be grasped and as we grasp truth in faith, God gives light, as we
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follow. I can’t just simply add to head knowledge I’ve got to implement what God
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is teaching me in His Word and then He’s going to teach me more, that’s what
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Discipleship is. It is, and we’re going to see that in our message entitled
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Jesus is the Son of God. We’re in Mark chapter one today so I hope you’ll join
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us if you can, here’s Colin. Now it’s Mark’s style that he likes to get
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straight into the action no background stuff, introductions, he wants to get on
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with it straightaway. I picture it in my mind that if Mark was a golfer he’s the
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kind of guy that would put the tea in the ground, the ball on the tee, stand up
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take one look and he’d hit it straight down the fairway. None of this
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standing for five minutes kind of lining the thing up and faking the shot and
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all the rest of it. Mark likes to get straight to it and so i’ve reckoned that
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if Mark doesn’t need some long introduction to get started I shouldn’t
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need that either and that we should jump in straight away and do what Mark doesn’t
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get on with it. Now notice where he begins, he wants us to know the beginning
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of the gospel about Jesus Christ the Son of God. Now straight away in the first
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sentence Mark is taking us to two of the most important questions a person can
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ever ask. One is who is Jesus and the other what is the gospel. Two of the most
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important questions that you or I could ever ask and in a sense the whole of
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Mark’s gospel is really taken up with answering these two questions. Who is
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Jesus? What is the gospel? And Mark certainly has no intention of letting us
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wait until the end of the book. He gets straight into it and goes for it
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straightaway. So these are the questions that are before us today and we’re going
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to see how Mark answers these questions for us. Number one then who is Jesus?
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Now I want you to notice that mark gives two answers to that question. The
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first answer is I want you to know he’s saying that Jesus is the Christ, Jesus
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Christ. Now Jesus was a common name, in fact quite commonly used among the Jews
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until about the beginning of the second century, personal name, Jesus. Christ is
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different, Christ is a title, it isn’t a person’s name it is a title that tells
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you what this particular person came into the world to do. So if you think of
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it this way we might talk about Dave the plumber or we might talk about Diane the
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teacher, one is a name and the other is a description of what the person does.
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When we say Jesus Christ, Jesus is a name, Christ, is a description of what
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does. And the word Christ simply means Messiah or it means deliverer or we
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could put it this way the one who has come into the world to
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confront what is wrong and put it right. Jesus is the Christ, Jesus is the one who
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has come to confront what is wrong to put it right.
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Jesus is the Messiah, Jesus is the deliverer. Now the whole of the Old
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Testament tells us about the great human disaster how our sinfulness has fouled
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up God’s world and keeps on doing it and if any of us has the idea that in some
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way we’re able to make this world right in this generation, at the beginning of
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a new millennium frankly thousands of years of human experience recorded in
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the Old Testament just blow that apart. We’ve never been able to put the world
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right in all of human history and the Old Testament records that if anyone has
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the idea that in some way you have the capacity or any of us has the capacity
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to become the person that God calls us to be, well again, thousands of years of
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Old Testament history blow that apart. Human experiences that it simply does
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not happen. But in that story of the great human
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disaster God has made a wonderful promise. God has said and this is
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repeated throughout the whole of the Old Testament, I will send a Deliverer,
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Messiah will come, My servant will come, a Savior will come and Mark right at the
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beginning of his gospel is saying he has come Christ, has come and his name
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is Jesus. Jesus is the Christ and Mark gives us a second answer right here in
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verse 1. The beginning of the gospel about Jesus Christ the Son of God.
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The second thing he wants us to know is that Jesus is the Son of God. Now what
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does that mean? See the way that we normally use the word son, is like this
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if I can speak personally. I am the son of George Robert Smith I’m his first son
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and so he became a father on the day that I was born but he was there before
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me and he would have continued to be even if I had never come along. Now when
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the Bible speaks about God the Father and God the Son, it is clearly saying
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something quite different, because the New Testament proclaims that God the
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Father was never without God the Son and God the Son was never without God the
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Father. God did not gain a son when Jesus was born, rather the Bible says that God
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sent His Son who was already at the Father’s side into the world. The Son
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shared the Father’s glory, the Father’s life and the Father’s love and He came
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into the world in order to be our Christ. The New Testament is full of remarkable
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statements about him, for example in Colossians and chapter 2 we’re told that
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everything that is in God is in Jesus Christ.
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Now, there’s a lot of my Father in me but nobody would say everything about George
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Robert Smith as in Colin Stewart Smith and say that about your father in you,
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not everything. The New Testament says in the Book of Hebrews that the Son is the
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exact representation of God’s being. Now, I’m like my father in a lot of ways but
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nobody has ever said, you are the exact representation of his being,
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clearly I’m not. Jesus said on one occasion to his disciples,
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anyone who has seen me has seen the father. You see a photograph of me,
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you see a photograph of my father, there’s definitely some likeness there.
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But nobody would say, if you’ve seen me, you’ve seen the father.
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So quite clearly, when the Bible speaks about Jesus being God’s son,
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it is talking about something quite different from our normal understanding
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of the relationship between a father and a son.
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It is not saying that he kind of comes second, or that he’s less,
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or he’s derivative in some sense or that the father was there first
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and that the son somehow came along later.
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None of these things are being proclaimed to us in the New Testament
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So what does it mean then to say that Jesus is the son of God?
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I’ve been helped in trying to understand this by the writings of Don Carson,
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who points out that in the ancient Jewish world
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names were very often used particularly to describe character,
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and the language of sonship was especially used in this way.
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Let me give you an example.
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In the Acts of the Apostles, we’re introduced to a guy called Joseph.
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You know him better by a different name, Barnabas.
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That was a nickname given to him by the apostles,
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and Barnabas means son of encouragement.
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Now, here’s why the apostles gave him that name.
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Barnabas was just that kind of guy
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who, whenever you rubbed up against him, he had a kind word.
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He encouraged you.
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He made you feel strengthened in whatever it was you were doing.
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He was just an encourager.
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He was like encouragement itself.
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He was like encouragement in the flesh.
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He was like encouragement personified,
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and so they gave him this name Son of Encouragement
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as if encouragement itself was his father.
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Jesus uses sonship language in the same way
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when he says blessed are the peacemakers
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for they shall be called sons of God.
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What’s he saying?
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Well, God is the great peacemaker,
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so when you are successful in making peace
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you are in a particular way reflecting the character of God
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so it would be appropriate to describe you
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as reflecting that and that’s what Jesus means
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when he says they will be called sons of God.
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Now, let’s put it this way.
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Mark is telling us that Jesus is the son of God,
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he is telling us that Jesus is everything God is
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in the flesh.
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That’s what this language means.
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Jesus is everything that God is in the flesh.
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Now, if you think you understand this,
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let me promise you you don’t
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and neither do I.
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We’re going to see in Mark’s gospel
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that the more of the disciples got to know Jesus,
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the harder it was for them really to figure him out.
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They just got to the point
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where they thought they had a handle on him
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and then they found he was much greater than the handle.
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And that’s how it will always be for us,
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whatever you have grasped of Jesus’s glory,
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he is greater than what you have already grasped.
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Dr. Jim Packer says that Mark makes it clear
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that the more Jesus gave himself to his disciples,
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the more of an awesome enigma they found him,
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the closer they came to him the less they understood him.
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So you find that you move through Mark’s gospel.
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The disciples thinking they knew about Jesus
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and then they turn around and they say,
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who is this
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that even the winds
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and the waves
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obey him?
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And their categories are blown again
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and they see that he’s even more glorious
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than they had thought before.
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And you will find this as you move on
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through the Christian life as I do,
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you will puzzle how can God become man?
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How can
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everything that is in God
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be in this one person?
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The more you think about it the more staggering it gets,
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but here is the great mystery and glory
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at the center of all true Christian faith
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that Jesus is the son of God.
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The disciples didn’t pretend to understand that
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but they did believe it
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and they followed Jesus with a faith
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that seeks understanding.
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And that is how we must follow him too
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because that is the only way to follow him
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and that is how we will follow him
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through our journey in Mark’s Gospel,
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faith seeking understanding.
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All that is in God
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is in Jesus
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in the flesh.
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Jesus is the son of God.
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You’re listening to Open the Bible
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with pastor Colin Smith and our message today,
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Jesus is the son of God.
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It’s the first in our series called
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The Gospel according to Jesus.
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And if you ever miss one of the series
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you can always catch up or go back and listen again online
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at our website openthebible.org.uk.
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There you’ll find any
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and all of the messages that have already gone out on air.
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Well, today is the last day of the month
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and it’s also the last day that we’re offering the book
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Respectable Sins by Jerry Bridges as a gift
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if you’re thinking of setting up a new donation
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to the work of open the Bible.
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I’ll be talking to Colin about that
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and about the book later in the broadcast.
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You can find full details
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about this offer on our website
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and the website address again, openthebible.org.uk
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Back to the message now we’re in Mark chapter one.
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Here’s Colin.
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Jesus is the son of God.
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Now, before we move on from this,
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it’s good for us to pause just a moment
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and say well why does that matter?
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You know, does doctrine matter?
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Is this, you know, really of any importance?
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You bet it is.
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Here’s why.
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Jesus being everything that God is in the flesh
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means that there is no power, no person,
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no accountability that is above him.
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No one to whom he looks up.
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No one to whom he has to account.
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Nothing is impossible for him.
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And that means, if he saves you, you are safe.
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If there was any power or any person above him,
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then you would still have an ultimate question to confront.
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But because he is everything that God is in the flesh,
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if he saves you, you are safe.
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And Bishop Ryle puts this, I think, very, very wonderfully.
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Let me just read his pithy comment here.
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He says, let believers cling to this doctrine
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that Jesus is the son of God with jealous watchfulness,
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because with it we stand on a rock.
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Without it we have nothing solid beneath our feet.
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Our hearts are weak and our sins are many.
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We need a redeemer who is able to save
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to the utter most, he says.
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Save completely, save utterly.
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And we have such a redeemer in Jesus Christ.
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You have nothing to fear before God
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if Jesus Christ is your Savior.
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Because all that is in God is in Him.
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Now let’s just pause one more moment
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before we move on from this first question,
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Who is Jesus?
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He’s the Christ, the one who’s come to confront
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what’s wrong and to put it right.
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He’s the son of God.
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I could well imagine that some of us
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in our minds just might just be saying
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well who says so, who says so?
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I mean, here we’re beginning the gospel of Mark.
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Obviously, Mark says so,
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but isn’t that just Mark’s opinion?
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I mean, can you imagine someone asking that question
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these days in our postmodern culture?
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I mean, isn’t this just Mark’s opinion?
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And we all have our opinions,
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and we’ve all got to come to our kind of assessment
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and so forth and so on.
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Well, I want you to understand that this confession
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that Jesus is the Son of God
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is much more than Mark’s opinion.
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Who says so?
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Who says that Jesus is the Son of God?
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Five answers, very quickly.
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Number one, the whole of the New Testament says so.
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It is the unanimous confession
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of the entire New Testament Scriptures
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that Jesus is the Son of God.
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Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Paul,
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the writer of the book of Hebrews,
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and John of course writing the book of Revelation.
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Check it out!
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It is the unanimous confession
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of the entire New Testament Scriptures.
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Let me just quote to you one sample from John’s Gospel
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in chapter 20 in verse 31.
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John says that these are written,
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that is the Gospel is written,
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that you may know that Jesus is the Christ,
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the Son of God, and that by believing
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you may have life in His name.
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John 20, 31.
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Second, Who says so?
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Heaven says so.
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Now we find that right in our passage here.
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If you look at Mark chapter one in verse nine,
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Mark tells us that Jesus came from Nazareth
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and he was baptized by John in the Jordan.
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And then as Jesus was coming up out of the water,
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he saw heaven being torn open
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and the Spirit descending on him like a dove.
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And a voice came from heaven.
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One voice from heaven.
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You are My son,
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whom I love,
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with you, I am well pleased.
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Now here’s the fascinating thing.
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Alongside the confession
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that comes with one voice from heaven,
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you also have to put the confession
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that comes with many voices from hell.
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Mark tells us chapter three in verse 11
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that whenever the evil spirits saw him.
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We’re talking here about demons
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that had in some way attached themselves
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to particular people making their lives
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absolutely wretched and horrific
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and when these evil spirits in particular people
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saw Jesus what happened?
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They fell down before Him
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and cried out,
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you are the Son of God.
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It’s rather fascinating, isn’t it?
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The one voice from heaven, the many voices from hell,
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the one thing on which heaven and hell agree.
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Heaven to its joy declares
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Jesus is the Son of God.
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Hell agrees to it horror
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and exclaims you are the Son of God
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and cowers.
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That’s three answers.
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Fourth answer.
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Jesus is the Son of God who says so Jesus himself says so.
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Mark chapter 14 and verse 61 and 62,
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you might just like to turn forward to it.
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And here we have the time
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when Jesus is standing before the high priest
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representing all of the religion of his day.
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This will lead soon after to Jesus being condemned
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and crucified and then rising again
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on the third day from the dead,
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but the high priest in this hastily convened court
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asks Jesus a question.
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Mark 14, 61, are you the Christ,
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the son of the blessed one?
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And Jesus said, I am.
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And then fifthly, who says so,
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this is the confession of all true Christian believers.
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If you know the Gospel of Mark a little bit,
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you’ll know that one of the high points
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that comes towards the end of the story,
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when the Lord Jesus Christ is crucified,
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he’s been hanging on the Cross for six hours
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and eventually in triumph, he lays down his life,
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and there was a Roman centurion,
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someone who really must have been pretty hard-bitten,
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having seen many, many crucifixions,
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executions over the years,
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and he had been superintending the Cross
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and guarding the Cross throughout these agonizing hours
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for the Lord Jesus and then Mark records for us
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in chapter 15 and verse 39.
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When the centurion who stood there in front of Jesus
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heard his cry and saw how he died,
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he said surely this man was the Son of God.
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And in making that confession,
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he begins the line of all true Christian believers
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who have made that confession ever since
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for this is the mark of authentic Christian faith.
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So the centurion knew who Jesus is
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and that’s also the position of Christians
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when they come to faith in Jesus Christ.
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You’ve been listening to Open the Bible
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with Pastor Colin Smith
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and a message called, Jesus is the Son of God.
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And that’s the first part of our series
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the gospel according to Jesus.
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If you ever miss
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one of the series, don’t forget
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you can always catch up or go back
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and listen again online at our website
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00:22:44,619 –> 00:22:47,579
openthebible.org.uk
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00:22:47,579 –> 00:22:50,780
or as a podcast, you can find Pastor Colin’s teaching
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on all the major podcast sites,
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00:22:52,780 –> 00:22:54,479
search for Open the Bible UK
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00:22:54,479 –> 00:22:58,000
and subscribe to receive regular updates.
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Whether you listen to Open the Bible
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on the radio or on our website
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00:23:01,500 –> 00:23:04,060
or as a podcast, it’s your generosity
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that keeps Pastor Colin’s messages available.
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So thank you for supporting the ministry.
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If that’s something you’ve thought about doing
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00:23:11,699 –> 00:23:14,420
and you’re able to set up a new direct debit
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00:23:14,420 –> 00:23:16,040
to the work of Open the Bible
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00:23:16,040 –> 00:23:18,880
in the amount of five pounds per month or more
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00:23:18,880 –> 00:23:21,900
or a single donation of 50 pounds
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00:23:21,900 –> 00:23:23,160
we’d love to say, thank you
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by sending you a copy of Jerry Bridges’ book
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00:23:25,780 –> 00:23:27,579
Respectable Sins
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Colin, how is this book helpful for you?
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Well, I find it helpful in my own life in three ways.
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I mean, the first is that Jerry Bridges identifies
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some of these sins that can easily hide
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in our hearts as Christian believers.
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And, you know, you can’t fight against what you don’t see.
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You can’t confess what you don’t see.
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So the first thing
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00:23:49,599 –> 00:23:52,239
is to be able to see what might be lurking there.
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And that’s the great value of this book.
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So when you’re able to identify
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what you need to be fighting against more strongly,
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then the next thing to do is to confess it,
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to seek the cleansing of the blood of Christ,
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and then to begin to fight against it.
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00:24:07,239 –> 00:24:10,060
And Jerry Bridges has a chapter in here
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that is absolutely worth its weight in gold.
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00:24:12,900 –> 00:24:15,959
It’s certainly well worth getting the whole book for,
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00:24:15,959 –> 00:24:19,400
directions for dealing with sins.
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Are you going to deal with the sins
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that lurk in your heart and in your life?
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00:24:23,479 –> 00:24:26,160
He gives seven very practical directions.
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It’s worth it as weighed in gold.
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00:24:27,680 –> 00:24:29,319
So this is a treasure.
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00:24:29,319 –> 00:24:32,000
It really helps us to move forward
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00:24:32,000 –> 00:24:34,439
so we don’t just become an older version
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00:24:34,439 –> 00:24:36,280
of the person we were before,
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but actually become someone
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who’s more and more like the Lord Jesus Christ,
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00:24:39,839 –> 00:24:42,119
which is what every Christian really wants.
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00:24:42,119 –> 00:24:45,959
So Jerry Bridges book, Respectable Sins is our gift to you
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00:24:45,959 –> 00:24:48,479
if you’re able to set up a new direct debit
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00:24:48,479 –> 00:24:50,859
to the work of Open the Bible this month
427
00:24:50,859 –> 00:24:53,839
in the amount of five pounds per month or more
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00:24:54,020 –> 00:24:56,920
or a single donation of 50 pounds.
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00:24:56,920 –> 00:24:59,119
Full terms and conditions on our website,
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00:24:59,119 –> 00:25:02,040
openthebible.org.uk.
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00:25:02,920 –> 00:25:05,540
For Open the Bible and for Pastor Colin Smith,
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00:25:05,540 –> 00:25:08,520
I’m David Pick, and I hope you’ll join us again next time.
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What marks out Christians
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is confessing that Jesus is the Son of God.
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Find out what that means, next time on Open the Bible.
