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Here’s a man who finds himself staggered,
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brought into worship,
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filled with a sense of overwhelming wonder
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as he considers God.
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Who is like you, he says,
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who pardons sin
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and forgives transgression?
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Welcome to Open The Bible with Pastor Colin Smith.
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I’m David Pick.
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And Colin, today we’re talking about the God who forgives sins.
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The holy forfeiting of sin
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who pardons transgressions.
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I’m sure you’ve heard the question before.
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If God does forgive sins and pardon transgressions,
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why should it matter if I continue to sin?
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Yeah, for sure.
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And it’s so easy to downgrade
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what God’s forgiveness actually is and what it involves.
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I’ve often heard the phrase,
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to err is human, to forgive is divine.
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It’s like, well, it’s God’s job to forgive.
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Of course he does.
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And therefore, a person who comes to it like that
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is never really going to value what this forgiveness is.
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So I find it helpful to remember
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when God created the world,
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all he needed to do was to speak.
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You know, let there be light.
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And there’s light.
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But when it comes to forgiving sin,
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God becomes man and suffers and dies on a cross.
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So there’s something more involved here in this forgiveness
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than simply it’s in God’s nature to forgive.
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What’s involved is, of course,
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the divine justice,
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the divine wrath
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that actually is dealt with
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on the cross by God in the flesh, Jesus Christ.
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No wonder Micah, even years
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before the coming of Christ, said,
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who is a God like you
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who pardons sin, pardons iniquity?
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And I want us to catch a sense of the wonder
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of what it is to be forgiven.
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Because when we know what that is,
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we’ll be led to worship.
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And then we won’t be going back
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and saying hey, I’m going to lead
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the same old life again,
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because we’ve got some sense
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of what it really means
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and what it cost for us to be forgiven.
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Well, join us if you can in Micah 7
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as we begin the message
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The God Who Forgives and Restores.
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Here’s Colin.
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There are many people
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for whom the death and resurrection
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of Jesus is really nothing much.
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You learned it in Sunday School.
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Jesus died on the cross.
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Jesus rose again.
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Been there. Done that.
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Now what’s next?
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That is honestly the attitude
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of many people,
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but Micah would not be among them.
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You look at verse 18,
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you get his spirit
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as he looks forward
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prophetically to what God will do,
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and he says in verse 18,
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Who is a God like you?
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Here’s a man who finds himself
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staggered, brought into worship,
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filled with a sense of overwhelming
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wonder as he considers God,
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Who is like you, he says,
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who pardons sin.
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And forgives transgression.
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Now, this is extraordinary
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for Micah to be saying this,
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because, you know,
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from these last 10 weeks
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that Michael’s whole ministry
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has been about exposing sin.
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It has been about
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shining the light
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into hidden corruption
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in the world of business
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and everyone else.
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It has been about
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announcing the judgment
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of God that will surely come.
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But here at the end
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we find him talking about God
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who despite all of this
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wants to pardon
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and to forgive.
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A God who is still
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pledged to his covenant
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with men and women
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who have been so unfaithful to him.
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And he says, Who is like you?
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Who is like you, God,
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who pardons sin.
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And who forgives the transgression.
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Now, Life isn’t so,
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and I want us to grasp this today
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that God’s pardon
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deals magnificently with three issues.
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The first is the issue of God’s anger.
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The second is the issue
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of your past.
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And the third is the issue
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of your future.
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These three and we’ll see them all,
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I think, in Micah’s words together.
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First of all, God’s anger.
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Look at verse 18.
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He says about God,
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you do not stay angry forever
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but you delight to show mercy.
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And you know, it’s difficult
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to think of any issue
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that causes more difficulty
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in the minds and hearts of many people
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than the anger of God.
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So I’m really glad
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that Micah speaks about it so directly
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and that we have that opportunity today.
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The idea that God might be angry
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really bothers us.
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So that our tendency
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is either to suppress it
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and say well no,
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we couldn’t possibly believe that
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or else just out right to deny it.
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I’ve lost count of the number of times
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I’ve heard folks in this church
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say something like this.
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I was brought up to believe
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in an angry God
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but now I believe in a God of love.
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That sounds very good.
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But what about the passages in the bible
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that speak of God’s anger?
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You can’t just dismiss it can you?
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Some Christians live with
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an underlying feeling
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actually that God is constantly angry with them.
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And therefore that he doesn’t
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really love them at all.
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Any pastor finds this in his study
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and pastoral work over the years
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that there are many many Christian people
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who would at the one level say
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they don’t believe that God is angry
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but they live with this feeling
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as if he were only ever angry with them.
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And if you find it difficult to believe
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that God really loves you
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it may well be that you have this
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deep underlying feeling that the reality is
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that he must just be angry with you
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and you don’t know what to do about it.
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So let’s face this issue head on
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so that we may have some biblical clarity
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with regard to it.
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The Bible makes it very clear
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that God is irreconcilably opposed to evil
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and at the same time irrepressibly filled with love,
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that he is irreconcilably opposed to evil
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and that he is irrepressibly filled with love.
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Now, of course our problem
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is that it’s very difficult for us to understand
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how both of these things can be true
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at the same time.
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Our natural tendency is to grasp hold of one
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and then to lose our grip off the other.
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Some of us find it very easy, natural,
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instinctive to see that God
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is irreconcilably opposed to evil.
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If you grasp hold of that one, and lose the other,
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it will quickly lead you to despair.
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Your mind will go like this,
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God is irreconcilably opposed to evil,
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there’s evil and darkness in me,
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that means God is irreconcilably opposed to me.
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Not only that but as you begin to think
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that way about yourself,
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you will become increasingly judgmental
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towards other people.
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It goes like this,
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God is irreconcilably opposed to evil,
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there’s a great deal of evil in the people around me,
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therefore God is irreconcilably opposed
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to the people around me
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and I should be irreconcilably opposed to them too.
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We’ve all seen that, and maybe felt it.
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Others of us go the other way,
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we find it easier by our instincts
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to grasp that God is irrepressibly filled with love,
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and if you grasp that and lose the other
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it leads you to arrogance.
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It goes like this,
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God is irrepressibly filled with love,
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that means He just can’t stop loving me
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which is hardly surprising seeing as I’m so lovable.
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It also leads to false optimism,
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God is irrepressibly filled with love,
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that means He loves all the people all of the time
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so everything will really be alright for everybody
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in the end, it’s called universalism
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everyone will be saved
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and the world will all be happily ever after.
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If you do not know how God’s love and His justice meet
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you will not understand either His justice or His love,
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you will live your life in spiritual confusion.
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Either you will feel that His love is not really love
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because it’s really on a mask that’s covering a real anger
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or else you’ll feel that His anger isn’t really anger
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because it’s really only a mask
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that’s covering His smiling face of love.
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So we desperately need to know and to grasp from the Scriptures
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how it is that both these things are true
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neither one nor the other in isolation
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we need to know how God’s love and justice meet
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well,we’ve got to pause the message right there for a few moments
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the message is called
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the message is called
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the God who forgives and restores
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and it’s the last part of our series
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Closed Encounters with the Living God
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if you’ve missed any of the series
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and you might want to go back and listen again
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and you can do that by coming online to our website
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Openthebible.org.uk
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there you can find any of the previously broadcast messages
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and don’t forget you can also find us as a podcast
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that might be an easier way for you to follow
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Pastor Colin’s teaching
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and those are available on all the usual podcast sites
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best thing to do is to search for Open the Bible UK
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back to the message now
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we’re in Micah chapter seven
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here’s Colin
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let’s take a look then at what we know from the scriptures
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about God’s anger
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let me give you a simple definition
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God’s anger is his personal, holy response to evil
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that’s what it is
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God’s anger is his personal, holy response to evil
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let’s just try and look at that a little more closely
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first it’s a response
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that’s important because it reminds us
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that anger is not God’s nature
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the Bible says that God is love
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it never says that God is anger
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see, love is in God’s nature
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love is not a response
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see, it is not that God looks down from Heaven
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sees how wonderful we all are
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and then simply feels overwhelmed by love
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love in God is not a response
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no, love is in his nature
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that is why he loved us even while we were still sinners
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that’s why he loves the world even in its rebellion against him
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because his love is not a response
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otherwise there wouldn’t be the thing to respond to
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it’s in his nature
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his very nature is love
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his love is unprovoked
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it does not arise as a response to any good that is in us
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but his anger is different
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God’s anger is a response
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and it’s a response to evil
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in other words, it is provoked
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now that makes
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what the bible teaches us about God
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very, very different from what you would read in the myths
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about paganism
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You see, most of the pagan gods
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were angry by nature
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that is why they were always needing to be placated
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by more and more offerings
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because they were always angry
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so you always have to offer them something new and something more
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now you may know some people like that
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who are just always angry and constantly needing to be placated
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but God is not like that
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God’s anger is provoked
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it is a response
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to human sinfulness and evil
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not only that, it is a holy response
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in other words God’s anger is not like ours
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our anger too often involves losing control
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flying off the handle, losing your temper, and so forth and so on
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God’s anger is never like that
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God is never overcome by anger
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or by rage
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God’s anger is a just
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and measured response
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It is, in other words, proportionate to the crime
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if that were not the case God would not be just
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and His anger is an expression of His justice
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The Bible tells us that God is slow to anger
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but that His anger will continue
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as long as men and women defy Him
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and that of course is why it will continue forever
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The idea that wicked men and wicked women
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will come to love God just because they see him
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is completely un-biblical
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It is foreign to the Bible
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God’s anger will burn against sinners
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who continue in their sin forever
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because God will never be reconciled to evil
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it’s his holy response
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Third, it is his personal response
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All sin is a personal offense against God
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The thing that makes sin so sinful
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is that we use the life that God gives us
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in ways that dishonor him
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and resist what he’s doing in the world
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Now if God didn’t care about you, this wouldn’t matter
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but he does
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How you live matters to him
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He has a calling
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He has a plan for your life
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and for this world
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And if you’re off doing your own thing
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he takes it personally as you’re creator
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It offends him
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So God’s anger is his personal
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holy response
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to evil
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to evil
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Now it won’t surprise you to know that over the years
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some writers have tried to reinterpret
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what the Bible says about God’s anger
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And I want us to grasp and to see
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whenever a man tries to tamper with God’s truth
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he always makes his own situation worse
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a good example of this was a man by the name of C.H. Dodd
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who wrote a commentary on the book of Romans
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that was first published in 1932
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a very famous landmark book
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that gave rise to a great deal of liberal thinking
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about this whole matter of God’s justice and of his wrath
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Dodd reinterpreted God’s anger or wrath in this way
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He didn’t like the idea
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you see that God could actually be angry
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so what he said was this
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that when Paul talks about
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the bible talks about God’s wrath or God’s anger
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What it’s really describing is an inevitable process
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of cause and effect in a moral universe
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that’s what he said
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in other words it’s impersonal
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He rejected the idea
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that God could actually be angry with people
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he said we should not be thinking in the 20th century
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when he was writing about God like that
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No no no
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when the bible talks about the wrath or the anger of God
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it’s not saying that God’s actually angry
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He’s just saying that
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the world has been set up in such a way
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that there is an inevitable process of cause and effect
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in a moral universe
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If you do good, good comes to you
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if you do bad, bad comes to you
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You reap what you sow
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00:15:48,020 –> 00:15:49,700
there is an inevitable process
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00:15:49,700 –> 00:15:51,219
of cause and effect in a moral universe
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that’s what Dodd was saying
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00:15:52,659 –> 00:15:54,500
there was a whole movement of thought
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00:15:54,500 –> 00:15:58,340
that rejected the bible’s teaching on the anger of God
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00:15:59,140 –> 00:16:00,179
along these lines
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00:16:02,500 –> 00:16:03,940
Now Dodd had good motivations
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What he thought he was doing was to remove a barrier
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00:16:10,179 –> 00:16:12,500
that keeps many people from coming to faith
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00:16:13,780 –> 00:16:15,299
He recognized there were some people
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who so disliked the idea that God could be angry
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that it kept them from faith
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and he wanted to take away that barrier
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but actually as I want us to see this morning
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what he and those who think like him have actually done
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00:16:29,859 –> 00:16:34,900
is to place an intolerable burden on every person
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Let me explain
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Come with me in your imagination to a place called Calvary
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Where there are three crosses
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Jesus is nailed to one in the middle
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On either side there are two criminals
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Thieves
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Who are coming to the end of their wasted lives
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00:17:00,659 –> 00:17:03,380
One of them curses and swears to the last
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One’s nothing to do with God
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00:17:06,579 –> 00:17:08,660
But the other one becomes more subdued
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00:17:09,540 –> 00:17:11,300
As eternity comes closer
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00:17:13,380 –> 00:17:15,060
He has heard Jesus say
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Father forgive them, they do not know what they are doing
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Five
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He has somehow recognised in his own spirit
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Some authority within Jesus
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00:17:23,859 –> 00:17:26,979
And he begins to wonder if this man dying next to him
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00:17:26,979 –> 00:17:28,819
Might indeed be able to help him
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00:17:31,140 –> 00:17:33,939
So in his own agony he turns somehow to Jesus
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And he says this
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Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom
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00:17:43,459 –> 00:17:44,339
Now think about this
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If C.H. Dodd was right
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Jesus’ answer would have to have been something like this
414
00:17:54,739 –> 00:17:55,979
I’m sorry my friend
415
00:17:55,979 –> 00:17:58,819
But it’s too late
416
00:17:58,819 –> 00:18:06,099
You see, you’ve lived your life as a thief
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00:18:06,099 –> 00:18:11,219
And there is an inevitable process of cause and effect
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In a moral universe
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00:18:14,420 –> 00:18:18,900
In a moral universe
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That’s devastating, right
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And not only would it be devasting to the thief
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It would be devastating to you
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And it would be devastating to me
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Thank God
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Jesus did not talk to a man on the brink of eternity
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His wrath is the most horrible process of cause and effect in a moral universe
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00:18:46,900 –> 00:18:50,660
Jesus said to him, Amen
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Today you will with me in paradise
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00:18:56,099 –> 00:18:59,780
Now, how could Jesus say that to this man
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Who evidently was not fit for paradise
431
00:19:03,859 –> 00:19:05,380
Here’s the answer
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God’s anger is his holy, personal response to evil
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00:19:12,739 –> 00:19:19,380
And when Jesus died on the cross, the sins of the world were laid on him
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00:19:19,380 –> 00:19:22,579
God’s anger was poured out on him
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00:19:22,579 –> 00:19:26,579
The bible calls that propitiation
436
00:19:26,579 –> 00:19:30,339
He endured hell on the cross
437
00:19:30,339 –> 00:19:33,380
And when that happened, the sun was turned to darkness
438
00:19:33,380 –> 00:19:35,579
All hell was let loose
439
00:19:35,579 –> 00:19:37,339
Jesus cried out in agony,
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00:19:37,339 –> 00:19:40,540
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
441
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Then darkness passed
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00:19:42,020 –> 00:19:45,579
Then Jesus cried out, the bible tells us in a loud voice,
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It is finished!
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00:19:48,060 –> 00:19:52,420
What was finished?
445
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God’s anger
446
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His personal holy response to evil was spent
447
00:20:03,619 –> 00:20:06,780
On Jesus
448
00:20:06,780 –> 00:20:11,260
Poured out on him
449
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The verdict passed, the sentence served, the anger exhausted
450
00:20:15,020 –> 00:20:17,219
And here is the central mystery of it all
451
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As we celebrate at Christmas
452
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This Jesus is God, with us
453
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God bore the wrath of God
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And let his love and his justice meet in Himself
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You see it is very possible to come close to Jesus
456
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And to go out into a lost eternity
457
00:20:43,439 –> 00:20:47,260
You have to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ
458
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Who died as the sacrifice for your sin
459
00:20:51,099 –> 00:20:55,420
You have to ask that his sacrifice will cover you
460
00:20:55,739 –> 00:20:59,319
Stand out from the crowd as that thief did when the crowd were rejecting Jesus
461
00:20:59,319 –> 00:21:01,160
Just as the crowd rejects Him today
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And you have to take your stand with Him
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As one who believes in Him
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Who follows Him
465
00:21:05,739 –> 00:21:06,739
Who trusts Him
466
00:21:06,739 –> 00:21:07,739
Who worships Him
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00:21:07,739 –> 00:21:11,199
Who obeys Him
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00:21:11,199 –> 00:21:15,020
God’s anger as far as your sin is concerned
469
00:21:15,020 –> 00:21:16,239
Is in one of two places
470
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It was either spent on Jesus
471
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Or it remains on you
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On you
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You’ve been listening to Pastor Colin Smith on Open the Bible
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And our message today
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00:21:28,520 –> 00:21:31,160
The God who forgives and restores
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Is part of a larger series
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00:21:32,719 –> 00:21:34,859
Close encounters with the living God
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And if you’ve missed any of the series
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00:21:36,560 –> 00:21:38,599
Or if you want to go back and listen again
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00:21:38,599 –> 00:21:41,219
You can do that by coming online to our website
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00:21:41,219 –> 00:21:44,140
openthebible.org.uk
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00:21:44,140 –> 00:21:46,000
Or find us as a podcast
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00:21:46,000 –> 00:21:49,540
And those are available on all the usual podcasting sites
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00:21:49,540 –> 00:21:52,020
Or by following the link on our website
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00:21:52,180 –> 00:21:56,660
The website address, again, is openthebible.org.uk
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00:21:56,660 –> 00:21:58,579
We want to help you to understand
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00:21:58,579 –> 00:22:01,400
How the books in the Bible fit together
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00:22:01,420 –> 00:22:02,900
And a good way to do that
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00:22:02,900 –> 00:22:05,339
Is with Open the Bible Story
490
00:22:05,339 –> 00:22:07,540
You can find that on our website
491
00:22:07,540 –> 00:22:09,939
It’s a journey through the whole Bible
492
00:22:09,939 –> 00:22:12,040
A study course in thirty parts
493
00:22:12,040 –> 00:22:14,020
Entitled, The Drive
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00:22:14,020 –> 00:22:17,199
It will take you deep into the valleys of the Old Testament
495
00:22:17,199 –> 00:22:19,199
The peaks of the glories of Jesus
496
00:22:19,199 –> 00:22:21,979
And the ups and downs of the Christian life
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00:22:21,979 –> 00:22:23,119
All the way through
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00:22:23,119 –> 00:22:27,859
It will show how the Bible always points to the person of Jesus Christ
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00:22:27,859 –> 00:22:31,040
You can find Open the Bible Story on website
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00:22:31,040 –> 00:22:34,920
That’s openthebible.org.uk
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00:22:34,920 –> 00:22:38,140
At Open the Bible we welcome contact with our listeners
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00:22:38,140 –> 00:22:41,339
If you’ve been blessed by Pastor Colin Smith’s teaching
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00:22:41,339 –> 00:22:43,219
And you’d like to reach out to us
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00:22:43,219 –> 00:22:45,140
There are several ways you can do that
505
00:22:45,140 –> 00:22:46,739
You can write to us at
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00:22:46,739 –> 00:22:47,959
Open the Bible
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00:22:48,660 –> 00:22:54,800
Sepiobox 1420 Cheltenham GL50 9pg
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00:22:54,800 –> 00:22:56,079
Or you can phone us at
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00:22:56,319 –> 00:23:02,719
0330 335 8089
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00:23:02,719 –> 00:23:05,000
If we’re not available where you call
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00:23:05,000 –> 00:23:07,599
Leave a message for us and we will return your call
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00:23:07,599 –> 00:23:10,880
And you can find all those contact details on our website
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00:23:11,239 –> 00:23:14,199
Openthebible.org.uk
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00:23:14,199 –> 00:23:17,199
Last month we were talking a lot about Colin’s new book
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00:23:17,199 –> 00:23:18,520
Fly Through the Bible
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00:23:18,719 –> 00:23:21,599
And this is just a reminder that there’s lots of information
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00:23:21,599 –> 00:23:23,920
on our website about Fly Through the Bible
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00:23:24,119 –> 00:23:27,520
Including details of how to use it as a study course
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00:23:28,040 –> 00:23:31,199
Open The Bible is supported entirely by our listeners
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00:23:31,439 –> 00:23:34,079
And if that’s something you’re considering doing this month
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00:23:34,160 –> 00:23:37,079
We’d like to thank you by sending you a copy of
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00:23:37,079 –> 00:23:40,239
Kevin de Jongh’s book Impossible Christianity
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00:23:40,719 –> 00:23:43,199
Colin, who would you say this book is for?
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00:23:43,599 –> 00:23:46,280
Well, you get a flavour of what this book is about
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00:23:46,520 –> 00:23:48,560
from its subtitle, now it’s really long
526
00:23:49,439 –> 00:23:50,640
So are you ready?
527
00:23:50,680 –> 00:23:54,119
Why Following Jesus Does Not Mean
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00:23:54,359 –> 00:23:56,239
That You Have To Change The World, Be An Expert
529
00:23:58,000 –> 00:24:01,160
In Everything, Accept Spiritual Failure
530
00:24:01,319 –> 00:24:04,239
And Feel Miserable Pretty Much All Of The Time
531
00:24:04,319 –> 00:24:06,959
And it really points to what the book is all about
532
00:24:07,239 –> 00:24:10,479
That sometimes we put burdens on ourselves
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00:24:10,479 –> 00:24:13,199
That God never intended us to carry
534
00:24:13,579 –> 00:24:17,020
And that’s hence the reason for the title, Impossible Christianity
535
00:24:17,020 –> 00:24:19,500
We’ve put burdens on ourselves
536
00:24:19,540 –> 00:24:21,859
That were never given to us by God
537
00:24:21,859 –> 00:24:24,459
And one of the wonderful things about this
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00:24:24,619 –> 00:24:27,180
I found reading it was just liberating
539
00:24:27,199 –> 00:24:29,800
It brought a sense of fresh peace to my soul
540
00:24:30,800 –> 00:24:34,880
That it is possible to live a life that is pleasing to God
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00:24:35,359 –> 00:24:40,040
And that this is the life into which the Lord Jesus Christ himself leads us
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00:24:40,040 –> 00:24:42,760
Well, we’d love to send you a copy of Kevin de Young’s book
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00:24:42,839 –> 00:24:44,119
Impossible Christianity
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00:24:44,439 –> 00:24:45,640
As a thank you gift
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00:24:45,640 –> 00:24:48,640
For setting up a new payment to the work of Open the Bible
546
00:24:49,000 –> 00:24:51,959
In the amount of five pounds per month or more
547
00:24:52,199 –> 00:24:53,800
That offer runs all this month
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00:24:54,079 –> 00:24:55,920
And you can find details on our website
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00:24:56,319 –> 00:24:59,040
At openthebible.org.uk
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00:24:59,319 –> 00:25:01,280
You can also give online
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00:25:01,959 –> 00:25:04,400
For Open the Bible and Pastor Colin Smith
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00:25:04,400 –> 00:25:05,439
I’m David Pick
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00:25:05,439 –> 00:25:07,599
And I hope you’ll be able to join us again next time
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00:25:07,599 –> 00:25:09,119
On Open the Bible
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00:25:13,160 –> 00:25:15,040
See the demands of God’s justice
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00:25:15,040 –> 00:25:17,359
And it will open your eyes to His love
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00:25:17,599 –> 00:25:20,439
Find out why. Next time on Open the Bible
