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Some of you lack having your own way,

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and you're used to getting your way, and

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heaven help the one who gets in your

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way.

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You feel you have certain rights and claims,

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and you are completely ignorant of the rights

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and claims that the gospel has on a

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follower of Christ Jesus.

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I have a message today, friends, that I

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bring before you with a broken heart over

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the condition of our congregations all over this

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country.

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My message today will probably upset some folks.

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I hope it upsets you enough to get

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you lost so you can be saved.

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The title of my message is, The Same

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Rebel You Have Always Been.

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And I have a verse of scripture today,

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friends, I feel many do not understand, and

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it is in their ignorance of it, that

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they will miss heaven when they die.

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Jesus spoke in parables, and on particular occasions

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his disciples would press him to explain the

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meaning of the parable to them.

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This was the case of the parable of

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the sower and the seed, and the degrees

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of soil that the seed fell on, the

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seed being the gospel of the Son of

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God, and the soil being the souls of

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men.

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Our passage today, friends, is found in Luke's

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gospel.

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You can turn in your Bibles there.

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We will be in chapter 8 and in

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verses 11 through 13.

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Let me read us this striking passage of

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scripture at this time, and may the Spirit

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of the Lord attend the reading of His

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holy word.

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Now the parable is this.

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The seed is the word of God.

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Those by the wayside are they that hear,

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then cometh the devil, and taketh away the

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word out of their hearts, lest they should

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believe and be saved.

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They on the rock are they, which when

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they hear, receive the word with joy, and

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these have no root, which for a while

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believe and, in time of temptation, fall away.

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I will stop there, friends, to clear up

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something, and that is the question.

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Can a person lose their salvation?

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Well, the answer is no.

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It says here in our text that some

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of these folks believed and then fell away.

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How can that be?

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Well, I want to spend a great deal

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of time today on the subject of what

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an intellectual assent to the gospel is, because

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our text here in verse 13 is speaking

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about people who heard the gospel and accepted

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the good news with joy.

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They made a profession of faith, joined the

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church, and were baptized, but the faith they

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had was not saving faith.

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They just made an intellectual assent with their

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mind to become a Christian, like they would

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join a political party or join a health

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club or a spa.

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They liked what they saw and wanted to

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join up and be a part of it.

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They are enthusiastic about their professed Christianity, and

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these individuals often get in your face and

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tell you all about Jesus, and you need

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them too.

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But what these nice church folk have is

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a ticket to heaven that has no stamp

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on it, for there is no seal on

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it dipped in blood.

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They have no deep roots in their profession

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of faith in God, because they do not

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possess Christ.

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I'm telling you right now, friends.

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Our churches are loaded with such deceived individuals

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who sit and soak and serve every week,

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believing themselves to be saved, when they haven't

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a clue what it means to be saved,

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nor do they know the Savior from sin.

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And although they may have responded to an

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emotional appeal by a preacher and walked an

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aisle and repeated the sinner's prayer and even

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invited Jesus into their heart as their personal

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Savior, they just went through the motions of

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what the minister told them to do.

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They are not saved individuals because they are

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yet unconverted.

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They merely made an intellectual assent to believe

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in Christ, and they are the same rebel

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they have always been.

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The ticket to heaven they hold in their

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hand won't do them any good.

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It's just an empty religious profession.

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But the catchphrase they love to say is,

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once saved, always saved, so I can sin

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all I want to and still go to

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heaven.

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That's what folks think.

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The greatest deception in the church today is

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an intellectual assent, because you think you are

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saved, and you get baptized.

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Believing church membership is salvation.

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I'm trying to get through this message, friend.

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It's a hard one to bring before you,

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but you better listen to me, because you

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may be smugly sitting beneath the robe of

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religion without having the robe of righteousness in

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Christ Jesus.

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You may be believing your way to hell

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because you're sitting on the rotten plankboard of

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coronal security that creaks and moans with your

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weight upon it, ready to break at any

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moment and send you crashing down where you

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will bust hell wide open.

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Heaven only, in intellectual assent, will surely damn

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you for certain, for God will not allow

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any sin-loving rebels into his holy heaven.

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You may be believing your way to hell

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because you've never been awakened to your lost

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condition, never knew holy spirit conviction, and never

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have been a subject of the work of

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grace that God performs in the heart through

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regeneration.

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You don't know what repentance is, much less

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exercised it toward God.

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You are yet in your sins because you've

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never been washed in the blood of the

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slain lamb who suffered and died on a

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bloody cross for sin.

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What you have is intellectual assent, and that's

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all you have, and your hope of heaven

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is nothing more than a hole in the

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wall.

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The faith you have is the faith of

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a devil, because James 2.19 declares, Thou

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believest that there is one God, thou doest

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well.

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The devils also believe and tremble.

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Demons have more religion than you, friend.

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At least they have enough sense to tremble

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before God.

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But you don't.

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True faith in Christ Jesus transforms a person's

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life.

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Saving faith comes from God, and only he

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can give it.

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If you were saved, friend, it's because God

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gave you saving faith.

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Saving faith isn't the faith that the preacher

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told you about when he used the illustration

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of trusting in a chair to support you.

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I believe the chair illustration in evangelism has

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damned more people to hell in the last

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forty years than any other evangelistic technique to

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get converts.

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Listen, friend, having the faith to trust in

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a chair or trust an airplane to get

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you off the ground is not the same

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as saving faith.

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Every atheist on the planet has faith in

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a chair.

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Every atheist trusts a plane to get them

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up in the air.

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No, friends, saving faith is an operation upon

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the heart, which only the Spirit of God

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performs in the supernatural act of regeneration.

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You must be born again.

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That should be the cry of the church

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to this generation.

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We must pick up the same cry as

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George Whitefield.

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You must be born again.

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An intellectual assent will only make reference to

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a repentant heart.

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True faith is exercising repentance toward God in

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an obedient heart toward God that causes man

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to do righteousness and hate sin.

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Faith in Christ Jesus is a transforming faith.

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When Jesus was here in his earthly ministry,

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as he passed through towns and villages, all

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who encountered him experienced change.

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Have you ever been changed by the grace

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of God?

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Or are you the same rebel you have

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always been?

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God is not impressed that you serve on

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a deacon committee.

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If you're the same rebel you've always been,

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God won't listen to your singing in church.

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If you are the same rebel you have

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always been, God won't accept your profession of

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faith.

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If you are the same rebel you have

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always been, it makes no difference, friend, if

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you're standing in the pulpit or sitting dutifully

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in the pew.

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If you are the same rebel you have

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always been, you are just believing your way

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to hell.

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You better come and lay down your shotgun

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of rebellion at the pierced feet of a

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sovereign.

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You don't need to bring anything with you

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to that cross but your point of rebellion

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towards a holy God.

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Come and lay that rebellion down in surrender

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to King Jesus.

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Look on him and believe on him.

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Jesus says, I am the bread of life.

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He that cometh to me shall never hunger.

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And he that believeth on me shall never

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thirst.

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If you want heaven, friend, and if you

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want to stay out of hell, then you

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better get to a bloodstained savior and close

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with him.

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Let us pray.