Oct. 13, 2024

Christianity and the Law Pt 3

Christianity and the Law Pt 3

We conclude our look at how Christianity has throughout history understood christians and the law of God

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We conclude our look at how Christianity has throughout history understood christians and the law of God

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Okay, for the last few weeks, we've been really dealing

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with two separate issues, and this morning we're going to

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kind of bring them together and then try to finish one.

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And this all started but trying to talk about how

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Christianity at large handles the reality of sin. And I

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have argued forever that I don't think we handle it

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very well. I don't think we are even equipped handle

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it very well because are kind of our philological understanding

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of sin, I think is greatly flawed. And so therefore

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when sin occurs, we don't really know what to do

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because we so emphasize transformation versus the reality of sin,

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so it causes problem. So we talked about Christianity and

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sin and we looked at how different systems try to

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handle this reality, all right, and then we switched over

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to how Christianity understands our relationship to the law. Now,

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we started going through church history looking all the different

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ways that the Church has understood the law. And so

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we will finish that. But I want to go back

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this morning, and I want to bring the two concepts

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together of sin and law, because whenever we talk about sin,

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inevitably we're going to talk about the law. So I

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want to start with a definition of sin that brings

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in the concept of the law. And I've used this

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definition a thousand times. You've heard me say it over

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and over and over and over again, but I'll say

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it again this morning. Sin is a lack of conformity

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to God's law, a failure to obey God's law, and

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a falling short of God's law. And I'm emphasizing law

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there so that we bring the two concepts together. Sin

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is a lack of conformity to God's law, a failure

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to obey God's law, and a falling short of God's law.

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But here's the key. This all has happens and our thoughts,

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our words, our actions, our desires, and what we do

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and fail to do. And this happens internally and externally.

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So sin is a lack of conformity to God's law,

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a failure to obey God's law, and a falling short

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of God's law. This all happens in our thoughts, words, actions, desires,

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and what we do and fail to do. And this

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happens internally and externally. Now, I believe if all Christians,

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I think in theory, all Christians do kind of acknowledge

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that definition of sin. But if all Christians understood the

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implications of that definition, that would have a profound impact

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on the church ability to handle sin when it occurs,

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because I think this definition would then show us sin

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is always occurring, so then we would have to have

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a different theological approach to it. So I took that's

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the definition I've used forever. It's a combination of a

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lot of definitions I have heard over the years. It's

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some of my own ideas thrown in there. It's kind

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of just a mix of all kinds of different things

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from different sources. But sin is a lack of conformity

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to God's law, failure to obey God's law, a falling

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short of God's law. This happens in our thoughts, words, actions, desires,

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and what we do and fail to do. This happens

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internally and externally. I could look at the Catholic confession

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of sin at the beginning of Mass, I could look

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at the Lutherans confession of sin at the beginning of

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their service. I could look at lots of different things,

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and all of that would be in agreement with almost

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all of them. So then I did a little bit

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of work on this, and I believe this definition describes

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sin and as we've already now said, a lack of

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conformity to God's law, failure to obey God's law, a

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falling short of God's law and thought word, action, desire,

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and both in what we do and fail to do

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internally and externally. I believe this definition is consistent with

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a biblical and philologically orthodox understanding of sin. That's my argument.

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I believe this is a consistent biblical and philological orthodox

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understanding of sin. At least I believe that. I don't

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think anyone could argue much with me. I think it's

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one hundred percent biblical and philologically orthodox. That is my belief,

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and I think I can stand pretty dogmatic on that. Now.

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If we were to break it down, we will break

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it down to certain levels here, just so that we

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can really drive this home and look at the implications

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of it. We'll start with a lack of conformity to

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God's law. I believe this aligns with First John three four,

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which states everyone who makes a practice of sinning also

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practices lawlessness. Sin is lawlessness. Sin is understood as a

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violation of God's moral standards, which are summarized in his law.

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Now I don't I'm going to read that from a

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different translation, First John three four. First John three four.

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Whosoever committeth sin transgressith. Also the law for sin is

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the transgression of the law. So whether we use the

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word transgression or whether we use the word lawlessness, we

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get the idea. It's a transgression. It's a violation of

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God's moral standards, and those standards are summarized in his law.

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So any lack of conformity to God's law is a transgression,

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it is lawlessness, it is sin. Now the application of

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that would be this affirms that sin is not merely

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outward but concerns failing to conform to God's revealed will

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and moral order. It includes both active transgression and passive neglect.

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So I believe one John three four proves, I think

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biblically that it's a lack of conformity to God's law,

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and this can happen actively, passively, inwardly outwardly, any lack

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of conformity to God's law is sin. So again God's

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law becomes the key here. God's law, and we would

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define law as any scripture that tells us what to

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do or not to do so immediately we know we're

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in trouble, and this would I think I think I

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can argue this that one John three four, as it

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defines sin as a transgression or lawlessness, that I'm perpetually lawless.

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I'm perpetually transgressing God's law because I'm perpetually in a

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lack of conformity to it, whether internally or externally. Now,

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if we truly believe that all of Christianity should go, well,

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wait a minute, then how do we handle sin? Because

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sin would be the norm, as I have said now

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a bunch of times as we went through this. So

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number one is a lack of conformity to God's law.

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Number two it's a failure to obey God's law. James

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chapter four, verse seventeen says, So whosoever knows the right

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thing to do and fails to do it for him,

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it is sin. I'm gonna look at James four seventeen

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in a different translation, James four seventeen, James four seventeen.

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If I can find James James four seventeen, here we

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go therefore, to him that knoweth to do good, and

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doeth it? Not to him it is sin. This verse

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highlights that sin can be seen not only in what

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one does sin of commission, but also in failing to

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do what is right sins of omission. So whether we

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are so sin would then involve what we do a

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sin of commission, but also in what we fail to do,

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which would be a sin of omission. The thiological implication

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this understanding of sin includes the reality of neglecting or

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failing to act on God's commands, emphasizing that sin is

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both active and passive, so we can fail to obey

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God's law in an active way or in a passive way.

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By what we do are what we fail to do right.

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So I don't have to necessarily do something. I could

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just be failing to do something, and I would be

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a sinner right. So it's a lack of conformity, it's

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a failure to obey God's law. It's a falling short

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of God's law. Number three Romans three twenty three says

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for all have sin and fallen short of the glory

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of God. This encompasses the idea that human beings and

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their fallen nature cannot fully meet the standard of God's righteousness.

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That is key human beings and their fallen nature, which

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I believe we still possess even after salvation, we cannot

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meet the standard of God's righteousness. Even the best human

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effort fails to achieve the perfection God's law requires. I

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cannot stress that enough. If sin is falling short of

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the glory of God, then our fallen nature is perpetually

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falling short of the glory of God. This means I

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can never meet the standard of God's righteousness. Even my

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best efforts to achieve perfection will never It will never

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get there. It can never be there. And if you

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think about it, if we still possess a sinful nature,

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my nature, even if I don't act, even if I

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don't do anything, even if I don't fail to do something,

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I'm in a perpetual state of sin because I have

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a very nature that falls short of God's glory. So

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what's the implication. This broadens the scope of sin to

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include not only overt rebellion against God, but also the

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inerrent inability to measure up to His holiness. So the

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thiological implication would be that this broadens the scope of

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sin to include not only overt rebellion, but also the

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inerrant inability to measure up to his holiness inherent and

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all of us is an inability to measure up to

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his holiness. So number one, it's a lack of conformity.

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Number two, it's a failure to obey. Number three, we

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fall short. Number four sin and thought, word, action, and desire.

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Jesus emphasized the internal aspect of the sin, especially in

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the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew five twenty one

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through twenty two and twenty seven through twenty eight. He

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teaches as sinful thoughts such as hatred or lust are

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as culpable as sinful actions like murder or adultery. So

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you can be an adulterer, you can be a murderer

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philologically speaking, without ever doing anything. You don't even have

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to do anything. And you can be an adulter and

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a murder And you can obviously be a murder and

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adulter and doing something. From a philological perspective, the two

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are the same. From a practical perspective they're not. We know,

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we don't treat them the same. But philologically they are

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the same. So how a church handles that well becomes

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very can become very messy. A similarly, in a similar way,

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James one fourteen through fifteen speaks of desire giving birth

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to sin. So what is the philological implication? This reflects

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a holistic understanding of sin, where external behaviors are not

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the only problem. Internal desire and attitude are equally sinful

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in the eyes of God. This underscoes the total depravity

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of humanity. Sin affects the whole person inside and out.

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All right, So I'm going through this, I know, really

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quick because the key here is just to this is

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bringing together a lot of thoughts. So sin there's a

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lack of conformity to God's law. It's a failure to

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obey God's law. It's a falling short of God's glory.

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And this sin happens in thought, word, action, and deed.

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And the philological implication here just demonstrates we're totally We're

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twenty four to seven and in sin, there's just no

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way to get around it. Number five, Sin and what

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we do and fail to do. Again, Biblical support would

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be James four seventeen supports the idea that sin includes

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both active disobedience, commission and failure to act sins of omission.

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This number five James four seventeen again James four seventeen. Again,

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this reveals that sin isn't merely a list of wrong actions,

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but also includes missed opportunities for righteousness and obedience. It

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paints sin as a pervasive okay, listen, as pervasive and

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comprehensive in scope. So when we consider sin in what

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we do and feil to do, sin then is pervasive

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and it is comprehensive. Okay. So at number six, sin

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happens internally and externally. Jeremiah seventeen nine says the heart

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is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick or desperately wicked.

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Who can understand it? This shows that sin begins internally

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and the human heart. Outward actions are merely manifestations of

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the sinfulness already present inside of us.

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Mark seven, Mark seven. I'm gonna look at this one.

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The Gospel of Mark chapter seven. We read these words

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Mark chapter seven. We read this Jesus. This is the

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words of Jesus.

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All right. He said that which cometh out of the

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man that defileth the man. For from with and this

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is Mark chapter seven, verse twenty one. For from with

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n out of the heart of men precede evil thoughts adulteries, fornication, murders, thefts, coveteousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness,

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and evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things

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come from within and defile the man. Jesus indicates that

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it all comes from where side of us my art.

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So this to me disproves the Christian teaching that is

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prevalent in almost every church that we get a new

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heart and we get a new nature. Because if we

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had a new heart in a new nature, then where

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does the sin arise from? The sin arises from inside,

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because I don't believe we've been changed on the inside.

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If we've been changed on the inside, then what would

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not happen? There would be no sin because sin comes

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from the inside. Now we've looked already in this series.

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We've mentioned how some try to say that the inside

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is completely changed, but the physical body still contains some

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remnant of the plant and we and it just becomes

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so discombobulated. I don't even know how we process this.

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But Jesus tells us where it comes from. It comes

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from within. So what is the theological implication? Sin's reach

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is total? It affects the enter thought, desire, outward word action.

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This supports a view of humanity is fundamentally sinful, unable

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to escape the reach of sin in either realm. We

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can't escape it. We can't escape it outwardly, we can't

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escape it in We can escape some of it outwardly.

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But even if we are escaping some of it outwardly,

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we're still guilty of it inwardly. So we're just perpetually

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in sin. So what is the implications of this entire definition?

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All right? So those are That breaks the entire definition

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down into basically six parts. Now the implications. There are

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four major implications. Number one, human inability. This definition implies

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that humans are incapable of achieving righteousness. Since sin involves

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not just overt action but internal thought and desire, no

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one can escape its grip. We're we were unable, we're

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we're And this comes back to our discussion on the law.

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Can we do it? I say we maintain the inability

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even after conversion, which puts me at odds with everyone,

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But I can prove that we're unable to do it,

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because if we're able to do it, then perfection is possible.

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If we say perfection is not possible, then you're telling

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me we still possess inability. Then people want to measure

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ability based on partial success. But how do you define

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partial success? If God demands perfection, is there partial success

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and in perfection when the standard is perfection? I would

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say no. I would say there's none. And we'll get

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into that more as we go through this. Number two

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the need for grace. This points to the necessity of

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grace and redemption. Since no one can perfectly conform to

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God's law, the need for a savior Jesus Christ becomes paramount.

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Only his atoning work can cover the full range of

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sin that is described. Number three comprehensive guilt. Every aspect

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of a person's life is tainted by sin, leading to

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a comprehensive sense of guilt and accountability before God. This

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reflects the reformed philological view of total depravity. All right,

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and I think that I'm being consistent there. Number five

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ongoing struggle with sin. Even believers, while justified in Christ,

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continue to struggle with sin, both internally and externally. Right, So,

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I think that those are the four major implications human inability.

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The need for grace. Comprehensive guilt, and an ongoing reality.

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I'm gonna uh, I'm gonna go, I'm gonna change that

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to the ongoing struggle with sin, going to say the

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ongoing reality with sin for number four, the ongoing reality

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of sin. We can't escape it, and we pretend all

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day that no transformation, transformation, transformation. And I think that

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that's where I find myself in such conflict with Christianity.

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Is modern evangelicalism wants to just emphasize transformation, transformation, transformation, transformation,

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and I want to emphasize the ongoing reality of sin.

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And I'm not suggesting the ongoing reality of sin is

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an excuse for said sin, but we have to acknowledge

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the ongoing reality of sin and then say, okay, how

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do we process this? If everyone in a church is

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perpetually in sin, and it's perpetually a sinner, then how

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do you process that? Because we have a way of

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basically saying, well, everyone's a sinner, but these are the

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sins we will not accept, and we just choose the

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ones we won't accept. And it's very random, it's very subjective,

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and I believe it's major, majorly problematic. But that right

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there sets up everything because all of that deals with

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sin is a violation of law. So then how do

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we relate to the law. That's what we started talking

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about last week, right, So now we'll go back and

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just go through quickly. Last week we established all the

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scriptures that tell us to be what holy as God

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is holy, be perfect, be perfect, be perfect, be perfect.

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All right, Immediately we know we're in trouble, right because

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when you read scriptures like you therefore must be perfect

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as your heavenly Father is perfect, be holy as He

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is holy. When you read those kinds of scriptures, you know,

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do all things without murmuring and complaining. I mean, we

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can go on and on and on. We know just

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reading those scriptures that we read last week, we all

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know that no nobody can do it, all right, So

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so then we started looking at how Christianity throughout history

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has done out with it. So we went to first

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we went to the early Church first to third century,

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and we saw basically the Jewish Christian context, where basically

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the argument was what Old Testament laws should gentiles keep?

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That basically was the argument at that point, and it

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didn't you didn't really do a lot with us. Then

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we went to the Church fathers. We mentioned specifically Justin

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Martyr and Erinnaus. I always want to say irnais, but

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it's Erinnaus emphasized that the law was fulfilled in Christ

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and that Christians are no longer under the law and

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the sense of following the Jewish ceremonial law in civil aspects. However,

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they affirmed the moral law summed up in Ten Commandments

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as binding for Christians. Right, so at this point when

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you get to the so at first it was trying

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to figure out, hey, what do we have to do

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as gentiles. Then it kind of went into well, as

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Christians for jew or gentile, those ceremonial law, civil law

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we don't have to do with. The moral law is

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still binding. So they you can see, the early Church

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was just trying to figure out, Okay, how does this

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new thing, I will use the term new connects with

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everything in the old. And that's where they That's where

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they're and you can understand why that would be what

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they're trying to figure out for our first couple of centuries.

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Erinaeus in his book Against Heresies he emphasized that Christ

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fulfilled the law and believers through the Holy Spirit are

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empowered to live according to God's will, though not perfectly,

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and that's where everything goes wacky. I think in the

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second century with Aerinaeus, because he acknowledges that Christ fulfilled

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the law for us, but then he says, we have

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power to live according to God's will, however we can't

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do it perfectly. That is the most confounding, and that

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became if you think about it, Aaronaeus basically sets up

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how Christianity's going to approach it. For two thousand years,

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we God had to do it for us because we can't.

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But now we're powered so that we can, but we

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actually can't. I don't know how any logical if you

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wrote that down on paper, you think any logical person

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would be like, that's just contradictory. I can't. Christ did

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it for me. Now I can, but I really can't. Well,

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if I really can't, then you understand the implications of

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that are staggering. Right. If God is the one empowering

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me and I can't, that would either call into question

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God's power or you're trying to say that I'm i

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am somehow stopping God from getting me to perfection. But

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if I'm stopping God from getting me to perfection. Then

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the obvious question would be why would he just not

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use his power to change my want to? Like, the

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whole thing makes no sense, but it's the formula that

354
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was used from the second century on. But everything goes

355
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back to Urinaeus there. Justin Martyr, he distinguished between the

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ceremonial law and the moral law. So he just wanted

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to really draw that distinction between the ceremonial and the moral.

358
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He really drove that point home justin Martyr. Okay, yeah,

359
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you're getting probably in that period of time, Yeah and so,

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and we know what happens because that power, especially once

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the sacramental system has really developed, the power to be

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able to supposedly find it comes from where the sacraments. Therefore,

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you need what the church. So and so, now the

364
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church is now forever set. Right. Hey, you gotta fight sin.

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You can't fight sin without power. One of the ways

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the Holy Spirit gives you power is by giving you

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grace through the sacraments. You need the church in order

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to get the power to fight However, you perpetually can

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never do it, So you perpetually need what. That's a

370
00:26:06.200 --> 00:26:10.119
pretty good system. That's a pretty good system. Hey, you

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need us, but you're never going to get there, so

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you always need a I mean, that's kind of if

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you look at it from a conspiratorial standpoint, it's kind

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of messed up. But all right, so that kind of

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gets us from the first to second century or first

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to third century. Then we looked at the fourth to

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fifth century. Now we get to Augustine and the Pelagian controversy.

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All right, this was a debate about human ability to

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keep the law. It becomes pronounced. In the context of

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the Pelagian controversy, the two main people are Pelagius and Augustine.

381
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The Pelagius view, he was a British monk, the humans

382
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are capable of keeping God's law through their natural ability,

383
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without the necessity of divine grace. So and said, you

384
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can say why Pelagius would be People would push back quickly, right, because,

385
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according to Pelagius, you don't need what. You don't need

386
00:27:02.519 --> 00:27:08.480
the church, Like if we really get conspiratorial here, yeah,

387
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this is not good. Right. He argued that if God,

388
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if God commands something, humans must have the natural capacity

389
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to fulfill it. Therefore, it was possible to live a

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sinless life and keep the law perfectly even without the

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aid of grace. He denied original sin and emphasize free will.

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The one thing I do admire about Pelagius is he

393
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didn't play some weird game, right. He didn't say, well

394
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you can, but you can't. He said you can, and

395
00:27:33.680 --> 00:27:37.759
you can, right. So I do admire Pelagius for that.

396
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Of course, Augustine comes along. He opposed Pelagius. He argued

397
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that due to original sin, human beings are incapable of

398
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keeping God's law. But noe, remember what Augustine did Where

399
00:27:49.680 --> 00:27:55.279
I disagree apart from the grace of God, and sacraments

400
00:27:55.279 --> 00:27:59.519
are means of grace. You see where this goes. He

401
00:27:59.559 --> 00:28:02.240
believed that because the fall, human nature is thoroughly corrupted,

402
00:28:02.480 --> 00:28:05.160
and while grace enables believers to follow God's will, there

403
00:28:05.200 --> 00:28:08.400
we go. If grace enables me to follow God's will,

404
00:28:10.839 --> 00:28:13.640
they will never but they will never perfectly keep the

405
00:28:13.720 --> 00:28:18.000
law in this life. That is such a contradiction. God

406
00:28:18.119 --> 00:28:22.839
grace enables me to keep to follow God's will, but

407
00:28:22.960 --> 00:28:31.400
I can't do it perfectly. Just yeah, just we can't

408
00:28:31.480 --> 00:28:36.599
let it go. We just yeah, oh absolutely yeah. But

409
00:28:36.680 --> 00:28:39.240
that's not enough. That's not enough. That's not enough. But

410
00:28:39.880 --> 00:28:43.480
what's so weird is while they try to acknowledge some difference,

411
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they have to acknowledge it can't be perfect. So then

412
00:28:46.440 --> 00:28:50.920
the difference has become subjective. Right. If I'm one hundred

413
00:28:50.960 --> 00:28:56.680
percent never meeting God's standard, then I'm one hundred percent

414
00:28:56.799 --> 00:29:02.279
always in sin. How does one measure I don't know

415
00:29:02.319 --> 00:29:06.039
how you measure anything at that point. So Augustine held that,

416
00:29:06.400 --> 00:29:09.200
now this is okay. Last week I did not emphasize

417
00:29:09.240 --> 00:29:12.400
this here. I'm going to emphasize it here. Augustine held

418
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that sanctification is an ongoing process. Right, So Augustine sets

419
00:29:18.799 --> 00:29:23.559
up what we know as progressive sanctification, and I want

420
00:29:23.559 --> 00:29:26.440
you to just write that phrase down because that's going

421
00:29:26.519 --> 00:29:30.359
to be a major emphasis today, this idea of progressive sanctification,

422
00:29:30.680 --> 00:29:37.079
which is what almost every church teaches. And I'm going

423
00:29:37.160 --> 00:29:43.240
to say, progressive sanctification is a fraudulent concept. I think

424
00:29:43.279 --> 00:29:47.119
it's a concept that means literally nothing if we really

425
00:29:47.160 --> 00:29:49.000
break this down, and we'll talk about it a little

426
00:29:49.039 --> 00:29:53.640
bit more. But so Augustine, really everything comes down to him.

427
00:29:53.799 --> 00:29:56.480
But please note, as we've stated, and I know maybe

428
00:29:56.519 --> 00:30:00.480
we're being a little conspiratorial, but it just is very

429
00:30:00.519 --> 00:30:05.599
convenient that you believe in progressive sanctification, and what you

430
00:30:05.720 --> 00:30:09.799
need for progressive sanctification to work is grace, and the

431
00:30:09.920 --> 00:30:13.799
Church has the means of grace in the sacraments. That

432
00:30:13.920 --> 00:30:19.559
is just very convenient, right, Hey, you need to progressively

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00:30:19.799 --> 00:30:22.400
be sanctified, and the way you do it is through grace,

434
00:30:22.640 --> 00:30:25.559
and we have that grace through the sacraments. Therefore you

435
00:30:25.599 --> 00:30:29.079
need us. You'll never get there. So you that mean that,

436
00:30:30.799 --> 00:30:37.319
I mean, it's hard not to see that as somewhat man,

437
00:30:37.400 --> 00:30:39.680
it's hard not to see that in a very negative way.

438
00:30:39.759 --> 00:30:42.440
It really is. I hate to say that, but it

439
00:30:42.480 --> 00:30:44.279
really really is. All right, then we go to the

440
00:30:44.319 --> 00:30:49.759
Medievil period. This is the sixth to fifteenth century. Sixth

441
00:30:49.799 --> 00:30:53.599
to fifteenth century. During the medieval period, views about the

442
00:30:53.680 --> 00:30:58.720
law were influenced by Augustus theology. And then Thomas Aquinas

443
00:30:58.799 --> 00:31:01.799
shows up to you to affirm that Christians were called

444
00:31:01.799 --> 00:31:05.119
to obey the moral law but required divine grace to

445
00:31:05.240 --> 00:31:07.440
do so. Now, of course Thomas Aquinas is really gonna

446
00:31:07.440 --> 00:31:11.000
emphasize that, hey, we have to keep the law, you

447
00:31:11.079 --> 00:31:13.480
need divine grace to do so. And of course you

448
00:31:13.519 --> 00:31:15.680
know where Aquinas is gonna point you to get that grace.

449
00:31:16.359 --> 00:31:18.759
The church, the church, the church, the church, the church,

450
00:31:18.839 --> 00:31:23.079
the church, the church. All right, Aquanus distinguished between the ceremonial,

451
00:31:23.200 --> 00:31:27.200
civil and moral law. Please note almost everyone drew that distinction.

452
00:31:27.480 --> 00:31:31.039
That's the one thing everyone almost agrees on. Everyone. Hey,

453
00:31:31.279 --> 00:31:34.920
there is a difference between the civil, moral, and ceremonial.

454
00:31:34.960 --> 00:31:38.799
Almost everyone drew that distinction because you have to right

455
00:31:39.240 --> 00:31:42.279
or you're gonna be offering up animals. You're gonna be

456
00:31:42.279 --> 00:31:44.720
trying to follow everything in the in the Old Testament.

457
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So everyone drew that distinction. Of course, Thomas Aquinas emphasizes

458
00:31:51.279 --> 00:31:53.599
what he knows as natural law, and he says it's

459
00:31:53.599 --> 00:31:56.400
binding on all people. Now that becomes why does that

460
00:31:56.440 --> 00:32:00.559
become important? Because if natural law, if we say all

461
00:32:00.599 --> 00:32:03.799
of God's law basically is natural law, it's binding on

462
00:32:03.880 --> 00:32:06.920
all people. This becomes a great move for the church

463
00:32:07.000 --> 00:32:11.319
to impose the law upon all people in a political way.

464
00:32:11.400 --> 00:32:13.599
So this becomes the merging of the church and state,

465
00:32:13.799 --> 00:32:16.319
which was very common in that period of time. I mean,

466
00:32:16.880 --> 00:32:20.400
I mean that period of time was very common sixth

467
00:32:20.400 --> 00:32:23.559
to the fifteenth century. I mean that was common. And

468
00:32:23.599 --> 00:32:25.519
of course we know what happens when they do that,

469
00:32:25.920 --> 00:32:28.119
people start dying, all right. So then we come to

470
00:32:28.160 --> 00:32:31.720
the Reformation. With this the sixteenth century we have Luther.

471
00:32:32.680 --> 00:32:35.519
Luther mainly focused on the fact that we are justified

472
00:32:36.920 --> 00:32:40.720
and sinful at the exact same time. He believed that

473
00:32:40.720 --> 00:32:45.839
the law served two primary purposes, to reveal sin a

474
00:32:45.880 --> 00:32:52.599
mirror and to guide believers in their sanctification. All right. However,

475
00:32:52.680 --> 00:32:55.640
Luther was clear that believers could never fully keep the

476
00:32:55.759 --> 00:33:00.240
law in this life due to their sinful nature. He

477
00:33:00.319 --> 00:33:03.119
believed that Christ alone perfectly kept the law on behalf

478
00:33:03.119 --> 00:33:06.160
of believers, and Christians will called to strive for holiness

479
00:33:06.480 --> 00:33:12.839
would always fall short. All right. So Luther really emphasized

480
00:33:12.880 --> 00:33:19.000
what he emphasized our inability to ever keep it, but

481
00:33:19.160 --> 00:33:23.359
Christ kept it for us. Luther was all about, we can't,

482
00:33:23.680 --> 00:33:27.759
but he did. That was Luther's like major emphasis, right.

483
00:33:28.039 --> 00:33:30.160
He wasn't so much tark. I mean, he did not

484
00:33:30.319 --> 00:33:34.799
deny our fight against sin. But his emphasis, look, look

485
00:33:34.920 --> 00:33:38.640
you can't, you never can. You're incapable. You do not

486
00:33:38.759 --> 00:33:42.880
possess the ability, you never will. That was his real

487
00:33:43.039 --> 00:33:48.359
strong focus. Calvin agreed with much of Luther, but he

488
00:33:48.400 --> 00:33:52.079
placed a stronger emphasis on guiding believers in godliness. He

489
00:33:52.160 --> 00:33:54.319
believed that the moral law still serves as a guide

490
00:33:54.319 --> 00:33:57.359
for Christian living, not as a means of salvation, but

491
00:33:57.440 --> 00:34:01.000
as a response to God's grace. Believe that by the

492
00:34:01.079 --> 00:34:05.359
power of the Holy Spirit, Christians could make real progress

493
00:34:06.200 --> 00:34:11.519
and keeping the law. But then you can never attain perfection,

494
00:34:11.719 --> 00:34:14.920
all right, So the one thing that we see was

495
00:34:15.320 --> 00:34:18.199
what there was a couple of things everyone could agree on.

496
00:34:18.920 --> 00:34:21.079
If we go through all this entire period up to

497
00:34:21.159 --> 00:34:24.159
the sixteenth century, almost everyone agreed that there need to

498
00:34:24.199 --> 00:34:27.480
be a distinction between moral, ceremonial and civil. Almost everyone

499
00:34:27.519 --> 00:34:32.639
agreed on that, and everyone agreed that inevitably we could

500
00:34:32.639 --> 00:34:37.920
not actually ever keep it, which is just which is

501
00:34:38.039 --> 00:34:42.480
awesome because that shows you after sixteen centuries of Christianity,

502
00:34:42.840 --> 00:34:47.119
everyone was basically like, we can't do it now. At

503
00:34:47.119 --> 00:34:51.800
the same time, most argued somehow we had power, which

504
00:34:52.000 --> 00:34:54.800
they never bothered to try to figure that out. If

505
00:34:54.840 --> 00:34:59.320
I have power, but I can't. If I can't, that

506
00:34:59.360 --> 00:35:05.639
implies powerlessness. That doesn't imply power. So they never explain

507
00:35:05.800 --> 00:35:10.519
the power other than Calvin saying real progress and quotes

508
00:35:11.440 --> 00:35:14.920
what is real progress? I don't know how, I don't

509
00:35:14.960 --> 00:35:16.960
know how we measure that and we'll get into that

510
00:35:17.000 --> 00:35:20.360
more today as we go through this. So there was

511
00:35:20.400 --> 00:35:23.360
Calvin's view then, and we could read more about Calvin.

512
00:35:23.480 --> 00:35:26.639
Then we got to the Anabaptist, and the Anabaptist really

513
00:35:26.880 --> 00:35:30.559
took a radical approach, right because they said, Hey, if

514
00:35:30.599 --> 00:35:35.039
we have this power, we can be sinless. Now, on

515
00:35:35.039 --> 00:35:37.280
one hand, you got to kind of you got to

516
00:35:37.360 --> 00:35:41.480
admire the Anabaptist, right. The Anabaptist kind of look like, well,

517
00:35:41.760 --> 00:35:44.000
if I have the Holy Spirit and the Holy Spirit's

518
00:35:44.000 --> 00:35:47.639
third person of the Trinity that means God, that means

519
00:35:47.639 --> 00:35:54.360
God is omnipotent, and if God is omnipotent, and then

520
00:35:54.519 --> 00:35:56.559
you have to be able to do it right. So

521
00:35:57.000 --> 00:36:01.400
I admire their trying to be consist. But like you said,

522
00:36:01.599 --> 00:36:04.440
they had to be absolutely deluded out of their minds

523
00:36:04.480 --> 00:36:12.519
to not realize that. Right. They emphasize holiness and obedience

524
00:36:12.559 --> 00:36:15.360
to the teachings of Jesus and the Sermon on the Mount.

525
00:36:15.480 --> 00:36:19.199
So in some I can't prove this, but the Anabaptists

526
00:36:19.199 --> 00:36:22.559
really become very instrumental I think in how modern Christianity

527
00:36:22.599 --> 00:36:26.559
handles the Sermon on the Mount, because modern Christians handle

528
00:36:26.639 --> 00:36:29.079
the Sermon on the Mount from a very Anabaptist way,

529
00:36:29.639 --> 00:36:32.360
like do this, do this, do this? Do all sermons

530
00:36:32.400 --> 00:36:34.679
are like do it, do it, where Luther would be like,

531
00:36:36.239 --> 00:36:39.800
you can't, you can't, you can't. Christ did so the

532
00:36:39.920 --> 00:36:43.639
Anabaptist really really probably changed the way the Sermon on

533
00:36:43.639 --> 00:36:46.159
the Mount in many ways were handled. They believed that

534
00:36:46.159 --> 00:36:50.159
it was possible for believers to keep law, at least

535
00:36:50.159 --> 00:36:52.480
in the moral sense, through the in dwelling of the

536
00:36:52.480 --> 00:36:56.480
Holy Spirit. Right, so there was the Anabaptist or right,

537
00:36:56.840 --> 00:37:01.679
now we get to the seventeenth century post Reformation to

538
00:37:01.760 --> 00:37:04.519
the modern day period. This is from the seventeenth century

539
00:37:04.559 --> 00:37:13.760
to twenty twenty four, right post Reformation to twenty twenty four,

540
00:37:13.840 --> 00:37:15.920
seventeenth century to twenty twenty four, if you want to

541
00:37:15.920 --> 00:37:18.880
put it that way, all right, we'll start with Arminianism

542
00:37:20.719 --> 00:37:26.599
in contrast to Calvinism. Armenian Armenian theology is developed by

543
00:37:26.679 --> 00:37:32.800
Jacob Arminius and John Wesley, held that Christians could, through

544
00:37:32.840 --> 00:37:38.480
the aid of grace, grow in holiness and make significant

545
00:37:38.519 --> 00:37:44.000
strides towards keeping the law. Wesley in particular developed the

546
00:37:44.039 --> 00:37:47.880
doctrine of Christian perfection, teaching that it was possible for

547
00:37:48.000 --> 00:37:52.480
Christians to reach the state of entire sanctification in this

548
00:37:52.679 --> 00:37:58.280
life where they would not willfully sin. Now, what I

549
00:37:58.320 --> 00:38:02.159
find interesting about kind of the arm minion Wesleyan view

550
00:38:02.880 --> 00:38:09.559
as it comes after whom the Anabaptist. The Anabaptist really

551
00:38:09.599 --> 00:38:12.679
introduced the idea that we can, and our mini in

552
00:38:12.719 --> 00:38:17.239
Wesleyan view basically took the same ideas said, hey, we

553
00:38:17.400 --> 00:38:20.760
can if we can reach this level of entire synctification,

554
00:38:22.159 --> 00:38:28.679
all right now, but please note the Wesleyan view does

555
00:38:28.840 --> 00:38:32.079
add a little like, you know, read the fine print.

556
00:38:32.320 --> 00:38:37.360
Are you ready? The Wesleyan view, in this life, through

557
00:38:37.400 --> 00:38:40.360
the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, believe that we

558
00:38:40.400 --> 00:38:45.800
do not that this does not mean absolute sinlessness, but

559
00:38:46.039 --> 00:38:52.639
freedom from intentional sin. So Wesley had to try to

560
00:38:52.719 --> 00:38:57.199
draw a distinction. We can be in a sense sinless,

561
00:38:57.639 --> 00:39:09.719
but it's sinless with intentional sin. Okay, okay, yeah. The

562
00:39:09.760 --> 00:39:12.119
Wesleyan view is that in this life, through the sanctifying

563
00:39:12.159 --> 00:39:14.599
work of the Holy Spirit, Wesley believed this did not

564
00:39:14.719 --> 00:39:21.719
mean absolute sinlessness, but freedom from intentional sin. So we

565
00:39:21.800 --> 00:39:26.960
could be free from all intentional sin. So any sin

566
00:39:26.960 --> 00:39:31.239
that we committed would be unintentional. So in a sense,

567
00:39:31.280 --> 00:39:35.840
we're sinless from intentional sins, but not sinless from unintentional

568
00:39:37.719 --> 00:39:40.199
Does that make you feel better? I guess I don't know.

569
00:39:39.840 --> 00:39:45.360
If I'm still committing unintentional sin, then I'm not sinless, right.

570
00:39:45.719 --> 00:39:48.119
So it's like, that's such a game. That's such a

571
00:39:48.159 --> 00:39:50.480
weird game to play. I guess this is where it

572
00:39:50.559 --> 00:39:52.920
leads people to the who hold to this view, not

573
00:39:52.960 --> 00:39:56.039
even knowing they holded this view. Would be basically, my

574
00:39:56.199 --> 00:40:01.679
unintentional sin are now wide mistakes, and I don't commit

575
00:40:01.719 --> 00:40:03.719
any intentional sin. I guess that's the way they would

576
00:40:03.719 --> 00:40:13.280
play that game. But yeah, that's a myth. Yeah, Christians could,

577
00:40:13.320 --> 00:40:16.079
through the aid of grace, grow in holiness and make

578
00:40:16.199 --> 00:40:22.360
significant strides towards keeping the law. It's basically it's another

579
00:40:22.480 --> 00:40:26.679
concept of progressive sanctification. It's the same kind of we can,

580
00:40:27.039 --> 00:40:31.119
we can, but we really can't. Wesley tried took the

581
00:40:31.159 --> 00:40:33.440
idea and try to add a little more umph to

582
00:40:33.519 --> 00:40:36.599
our can, but still he had to be careful because

583
00:40:36.599 --> 00:40:38.840
he knew we still do certain.

584
00:40:38.559 --> 00:40:48.360
Things all right now.

585
00:40:48.400 --> 00:40:51.559
Basically, when you get to kind of the seventeenth century

586
00:40:51.599 --> 00:40:55.280
to present, you now we have kind of the Armenian view,

587
00:40:56.320 --> 00:41:06.880
which yeah, oh, I know, pretty much the same. Yeah, yeah,

588
00:41:07.559 --> 00:41:10.679
I mean at this point, basically, once you get past

589
00:41:10.679 --> 00:41:14.960
the Anabaptist basically every view becomes you can almost summarize

590
00:41:14.960 --> 00:41:19.320
every view with the term progressive sanctification, almost every view.

591
00:41:19.440 --> 00:41:21.519
Just that's where by the time you get to the

592
00:41:21.559 --> 00:41:25.800
Anabaptist everyone just kind of falls into this progressive sanctification.

593
00:41:26.199 --> 00:41:31.119
Any distinction here becomes very We're gonna look at all

594
00:41:31.159 --> 00:41:34.119
of them, but they're not really there's not really a distinction, right,

595
00:41:34.320 --> 00:41:37.079
because in the seventeenth century, after you get through Arminianism,

596
00:41:37.400 --> 00:41:39.480
we have wesley which tries to add a little bit

597
00:41:39.519 --> 00:41:43.159
more umph to it, right, Yeah, he would be in

598
00:41:43.159 --> 00:41:47.079
the Armenian camp. Yes, uh, so that you have the

599
00:41:47.320 --> 00:41:50.840
army Arminianism and we can call Wesleyanism, but it's there,

600
00:41:50.880 --> 00:41:54.920
they're linked together, right, So they would both fall under

601
00:41:55.000 --> 00:41:58.360
that Armenian camp. Then we go to the Reformed and

602
00:41:58.480 --> 00:42:04.079
Lutheran orthodoxy coming out into the seventeenth century, and they

603
00:42:04.159 --> 00:42:09.320
continued to they continue to affirm both Reformed and Lutheran groups.

604
00:42:09.840 --> 00:42:15.679
They continue to affirm the imperfect, imperfect nature of Christian obedience.

605
00:42:16.159 --> 00:42:19.719
So the Reform and the Lutheran world did it emphasized, Hey,

606
00:42:20.280 --> 00:42:24.840
it's it's not perfect. It's not perfect. They did emphasize

607
00:42:24.840 --> 00:42:27.440
it was never perfect, which is a good thing, right,

608
00:42:28.920 --> 00:42:32.639
But guess what they were going to say. Christians could

609
00:42:32.719 --> 00:42:39.400
grow in holiness and obey God's law, but perfection remained unattainable.

610
00:42:41.480 --> 00:42:46.599
So you can, but you can't. This becomes the inevitable

611
00:42:46.679 --> 00:42:57.639
reality of what Christianity goes to. So at this point

612
00:42:57.840 --> 00:42:59.800
the reform people really want to say, we can't do

613
00:42:59.840 --> 00:43:03.400
it perfectly, but we can, but we can't. This just

614
00:43:03.440 --> 00:43:07.199
becomes very circular reasoning and to me maddening. I don't

615
00:43:07.199 --> 00:43:10.679
know how Christians it doesn't drive all Christians insane. It should,

616
00:43:10.800 --> 00:43:15.079
but okay, all right, now we come to the modern

617
00:43:15.320 --> 00:43:27.400
evangelical world. All right. In contemporary evangelicalism, there is a

618
00:43:27.480 --> 00:43:32.519
variety of views. Many follow the Reformed emphasis on progressive sanctification,

619
00:43:33.079 --> 00:43:37.320
where believers grow in holiness but do not reach perfection. Others,

620
00:43:37.480 --> 00:43:42.679
influenced by Wesleyan holiness movements and Pentecostalism, affirm that Christians

621
00:43:42.679 --> 00:43:47.159
can experience a deeper experience of sanctification through the Holy Spirit,

622
00:43:47.360 --> 00:44:00.239
and some may claim a higher degree of victory here.

623
00:44:00.280 --> 00:44:07.079
A deeper or see Christians can experience deeper experiences of

624
00:44:07.119 --> 00:44:11.800
sanctification through the Holy Spirit, and some may claim a

625
00:44:11.880 --> 00:44:25.320
higher degree of victory. If you think about it the

626
00:44:25.360 --> 00:44:31.119
Wesleyan kind of idea. Then you have the Pentecostal charismatic idea,

627
00:44:32.559 --> 00:44:35.960
and you see it and probably actually you know, if

628
00:44:35.960 --> 00:44:42.039
you think about it, and much of the non Catholic world,

629
00:44:42.719 --> 00:44:44.960
and now we'll kind of go back to our conspiratorial

630
00:44:45.000 --> 00:44:48.559
way of thinking. In the Catholic world, they would talk

631
00:44:48.599 --> 00:44:52.320
about we're able to do this through grace. Right, they

632
00:44:52.320 --> 00:44:54.360
would use the word grace. Did we notice that as

633
00:44:54.360 --> 00:44:57.760
we went through that? Okay, now this is important. Why

634
00:44:57.760 --> 00:45:01.159
would they use the word grace because sacraments are a

635
00:45:01.199 --> 00:45:04.920
means of grace, meaning you need the church. After you

636
00:45:05.000 --> 00:45:08.960
get out of the Catholic influence, the Protestant world stops

637
00:45:09.079 --> 00:45:11.320
using that we can do it through the means of grace.

638
00:45:11.679 --> 00:45:15.239
We can do it through the power of the Holy Spirit. Therefore,

639
00:45:15.280 --> 00:45:17.639
I don't need the church because the Church doesn't control

640
00:45:17.679 --> 00:45:23.079
the Holy Spirit. So you note that's that's a fundamental change, right,

641
00:45:23.440 --> 00:45:28.159
Like I don't think most church history books will acknowledge that.

642
00:45:28.599 --> 00:45:32.320
We have to stress that, hey, you don't need the Church.

643
00:45:32.599 --> 00:45:35.400
You've got the power inside of you. Now you can

644
00:45:35.440 --> 00:45:37.840
do it this way. Now they may come up with it,

645
00:45:38.639 --> 00:45:42.800
and you know, within the Pentecostal movement, right, so within

646
00:45:42.840 --> 00:45:46.440
the Wesleyan movement, you need to reach that entire sanctification.

647
00:45:46.599 --> 00:45:49.440
You need to experience entire sanctification to really get there.

648
00:45:49.840 --> 00:45:53.559
And the Pentecostal movement you need what the baptism of

649
00:45:53.599 --> 00:45:57.400
the Holy Spirit, which is subsequent to salvation, so that

650
00:45:57.480 --> 00:46:01.480
you can get that extra power. So what happened is

651
00:46:01.920 --> 00:46:06.719
everyone began to acknowledge, Huh, most people aren't there. You

652
00:46:06.800 --> 00:46:11.760
need something extra to get there. So everyone realized nobody

653
00:46:11.840 --> 00:46:13.719
was there, but they kept coming up with ways to

654
00:46:13.760 --> 00:46:17.119
get there. So in the Catholic world you need the church.

655
00:46:17.760 --> 00:46:20.880
In the Protestant world, you need the baptism of the

656
00:46:20.880 --> 00:46:25.800
Holy Spirit, you need a deeper experience, you need something else. So,

657
00:46:26.000 --> 00:46:28.079
which is kind of interesting the way we see that

658
00:46:28.159 --> 00:46:38.199
play play itself out. All right, now, let's just kind

659
00:46:38.199 --> 00:46:40.519
of do an analysis of all of this. There's a

660
00:46:40.559 --> 00:46:43.440
lot more there that we could talk about. We could

661
00:46:43.440 --> 00:46:45.920
talk about Catholicism, but we already kind of I'm not

662
00:46:45.920 --> 00:46:48.079
gonna get into the Catholic view because we already know

663
00:46:48.119 --> 00:46:51.679
the Catholic view. So we're gonna kind of do a

664
00:46:51.760 --> 00:46:54.800
final analysis and I'm just gonna go through these quickly

665
00:46:54.800 --> 00:46:58.639
and try to wrap this part up. Okay, So the

666
00:46:58.800 --> 00:47:02.280
early Church was a focus on moral law. In the

667
00:47:02.320 --> 00:47:04.679
Early Church, there was a consensus that Christians were not

668
00:47:04.760 --> 00:47:07.719
bound to the ceremonial law or the mosaic or a

669
00:47:07.760 --> 00:47:10.239
certain or the civil aspects of the Mosaic law, but

670
00:47:10.280 --> 00:47:13.400
they were still obliged to live according to the moral law,

671
00:47:13.440 --> 00:47:16.360
which was fulfilled in christ. Early Christians viewed the law

672
00:47:16.360 --> 00:47:18.719
as a guide to holy living, but the concept of

673
00:47:18.800 --> 00:47:22.320
perfection was less emphasized. So the early Church didn't really

674
00:47:22.320 --> 00:47:25.000
think about what you can do. It was just more

675
00:47:25.039 --> 00:47:28.639
of a call to do it all right. Augustine and Pelagius,

676
00:47:28.920 --> 00:47:32.519
this turned the argument about the nature of human ability. Obviously,

677
00:47:32.559 --> 00:47:35.480
we know Pelagia says you could, and Augustine basically says

678
00:47:35.480 --> 00:47:40.159
you can't, but you kind of can, and well, yeah,

679
00:47:40.199 --> 00:47:44.360
there we go. In fact, Augustine made he talked about

680
00:47:44.400 --> 00:47:48.000
the dependence on grace, which became the dominant framework in

681
00:47:48.039 --> 00:47:53.079
Western Christianity, which we know why because the church it

682
00:47:53.159 --> 00:47:56.639
focuses on the church. The Medievil Church was a growth

683
00:47:56.639 --> 00:48:00.880
in holiness throughout the Medievil period. Theologians like Aquinas maintain

684
00:48:00.920 --> 00:48:05.280
Augustine's basic position, but emphasize that humans could grow in

685
00:48:05.360 --> 00:48:09.440
their ability to follow God's law through Now listen, this

686
00:48:09.599 --> 00:48:14.159
was Aquinas through the work of infused grace. All right. Uh,

687
00:48:14.280 --> 00:48:17.480
the idea of perfection was reserved for saints. Well, most

688
00:48:17.599 --> 00:48:20.920
Christians were seen as striving towards holiness through a lifetime

689
00:48:20.920 --> 00:48:24.599
of growth. But so Aquinas really emphasized again, you need

690
00:48:24.920 --> 00:48:26.679
you need grace, and you get it through the church.

691
00:48:26.719 --> 00:48:27.960
You get it through the church. You get it through

692
00:48:27.960 --> 00:48:33.679
the church. You can get very Yeah, but yeah, nobody can.

693
00:48:34.119 --> 00:48:38.400
Nobody can, I guess other than saints. The Reformation emphasized

694
00:48:38.480 --> 00:48:43.000
human inability and grace. Okay, but I think they kind

695
00:48:43.000 --> 00:48:45.119
of begin to state it a little bit differently. But

696
00:48:45.199 --> 00:48:47.119
they still may have been using some of that language

697
00:48:47.159 --> 00:48:50.679
because even some in the Reformation, especially Lutherans, still held

698
00:48:50.719 --> 00:48:53.800
to a sacramental system. Right, So you still have a

699
00:48:53.800 --> 00:48:58.119
little bit of the sacramental system there, And well we've

700
00:48:58.119 --> 00:49:01.199
talked a little bit about that. After the Reformation, we

701
00:49:01.280 --> 00:49:05.119
begin to get diverging views of sanctification, but really, if

702
00:49:05.159 --> 00:49:07.639
you want to kind of see what happens, it basically

703
00:49:07.719 --> 00:49:12.199
becomes this idea of progressive sanctification. But it's progressive sanctification

704
00:49:12.280 --> 00:49:14.920
through the work of the Spirit, not through the work

705
00:49:15.079 --> 00:49:19.840
of grace. That begin to change the language. And why well,

706
00:49:19.840 --> 00:49:23.599
because now it's not emphasizing the church right. In fact,

707
00:49:23.840 --> 00:49:32.119
listen to this quote emphasizing experiences of the Holy Spirit

708
00:49:32.280 --> 00:49:35.840
that lead to greater victory over sin. It's the Holy

709
00:49:36.039 --> 00:49:38.880
it's they're not using the word grace anymore because we've

710
00:49:38.920 --> 00:49:46.440
abandoned the sacramental system. Right throughout Church history, beliefs about

711
00:49:46.519 --> 00:49:51.400
Christian's ability to keep the law of God have evolved significantly,

712
00:49:52.480 --> 00:49:56.199
all right. Ultimately, the central tension in these beliefs lie

713
00:49:56.480 --> 00:50:00.159
and how one balances the reality of human sinfulness and

714
00:50:00.199 --> 00:50:03.199
the power of divine grace and the nature of sanctification.

715
00:50:03.719 --> 00:50:07.239
Traditions that emphasize human dependence on grace tend to reject

716
00:50:07.280 --> 00:50:10.719
the idea that perfection is possible in this life, of course,

717
00:50:11.800 --> 00:50:14.320
because you're going to continue to need the Church, while

718
00:50:14.360 --> 00:50:17.599
traditions that emphasize the work of the Holy Spirit hold

719
00:50:17.599 --> 00:50:21.920
out the possibility that believers can approach or even attain

720
00:50:23.079 --> 00:50:28.199
through perfection, through God's empowering presence. So I think what

721
00:50:28.239 --> 00:50:32.039
we've discovered is and I hate to be so cynical,

722
00:50:33.000 --> 00:50:37.440
I'm just gonna be honest. For at least sixteen centuries,

723
00:50:38.480 --> 00:50:41.920
the idea was, hey, you need the church in order

724
00:50:41.960 --> 00:50:44.960
to advance, and the church is the one that controls

725
00:50:45.000 --> 00:50:50.159
the sacraments. There was almost they were motivated to hold

726
00:50:50.280 --> 00:50:53.920
that system because it made the church imperative. You couldn't

727
00:50:54.400 --> 00:50:56.760
You had to have the church, right, You had to

728
00:50:56.800 --> 00:50:59.679
have the church. That's why it was very popular. If

729
00:50:59.719 --> 00:51:02.000
you go back and sum of this period of time

730
00:51:02.039 --> 00:51:04.639
to hear there was no salvation outside of the church.

731
00:51:05.000 --> 00:51:08.719
It was very why because everything dealing with salvation you

732
00:51:08.760 --> 00:51:12.480
needed the church for So you can say where then

733
00:51:12.599 --> 00:51:16.840
when we broke away from the Catholic Church, even though

734
00:51:16.880 --> 00:51:18.800
people would say, well, we still wanted to maintain a

735
00:51:18.880 --> 00:51:22.519
high view of the church, we may, but we made

736
00:51:22.559 --> 00:51:25.199
it very clear that we didn't need the church and

737
00:51:25.440 --> 00:51:29.079
order to be saved. We didn't need the church and

738
00:51:29.280 --> 00:51:32.480
order to advance in our spirituality because we had the

739
00:51:32.519 --> 00:51:34.800
power of the Holy Spirit and we had the Word

740
00:51:35.039 --> 00:51:37.559
and that's all we needed. So then it becomes about

741
00:51:37.599 --> 00:51:40.840
the power of the Holy Spirit is supposedly get us there.

742
00:51:41.039 --> 00:51:44.519
All right, So but for most of if you want

743
00:51:44.519 --> 00:51:49.239
to go from say this after the Ana Baptist, everyone after,

744
00:51:49.360 --> 00:51:52.280
even though there's all kinds of weird little distinctions, and

745
00:51:52.320 --> 00:51:53.880
we didn't get into all of it because we ran

746
00:51:53.920 --> 00:51:56.400
out of time, but we did a pretty good job.

747
00:51:56.599 --> 00:51:59.000
This is the main thing to remember. Remember the phrase

748
00:51:59.079 --> 00:52:03.760
progressive sanctify, progressive sanctification, because that's what we'll deal with

749
00:52:03.960 --> 00:52:06.639
in the second hour. Here, we're gonna deal all we're

750
00:52:06.639 --> 00:52:10.280
gonna deal. We're gonna look at progressive sanctification from a

751
00:52:10.480 --> 00:52:15.840
logical perspective, and I know that's gonna be go against Christianity,

752
00:52:15.880 --> 00:52:18.679
but we're going to have to because I think progressive

753
00:52:18.679 --> 00:52:22.440
sanctification is problematic. So that's what we'll do in the

754
00:52:22.480 --> 00:52:25.079
second hour. But that gets us all the way from

755
00:52:25.440 --> 00:52:29.400
the first century, all the way to basically twenty twenty four.

756
00:52:30.119 --> 00:52:31.800
All right, is that a good place? So we'll stop

757
00:52:31.880 --> 00:52:34.079
right there. All right, Lord, God, we come before you

758
00:52:34.119 --> 00:52:36.880
this morning. Thank you, Lord for giving us the ability

759
00:52:36.960 --> 00:52:40.639
to deal with these very important theological issues. And Lord,

760
00:52:40.719 --> 00:52:43.639
I pray that in the next hour will continue this

761
00:52:44.079 --> 00:52:47.159
study and continue to try to understand this very important

762
00:52:47.199 --> 00:52:49.239
concept to the best of our ability, and we assist

763
00:52:49.280 --> 00:52:53.400
in Jesus name and GOS. People said