Participants: Ty Gibson
Series Code: AOT
Program Code: AOT000148
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00:13 Welcome to Anchors Of Truth,
00:15 live from the 3ABN Worship Center. 00:23 We welcome you to the 3ABN Worship Center 00:26 once again. 00:27 And we welcome you to the sacred hours of the Sabbath. 00:30 And we welcome you to night number three of our Anchors 00:34 series, The Law of Life, with the most intriguing title, 00:39 Love God and Do As You Please. 00:42 I really wonder what that is all about. 00:44 And I'm sure that Ty Gibson, our speaker, has much to say 00:47 on a very intriguing subject. 00:50 We have to apologize to brother Ty. 00:52 We have not treated him well, yea, these several days. 00:54 It has been cold and rainy each of the days 00:57 that he has been here. 00:58 But he has been here when times have been better, 01:01 so he knows that this is not the norm for this area. 01:04 But we have not treated him well. 01:06 Yet, the song says when Jesus shows His smiling face, 01:10 it is always sunshine in our souls. 01:13 So though the weather is cold and rainy, there is indeed 01:16 sunshine in our souls. 01:18 And the messages that we have heard have certainly 01:21 shined God's love and light in our souls. 01:23 They've been very, very interesting. 01:25 More than that, inspirational as well as informational. 01:28 And we really appreciate how God has used Ty 01:32 these last two nights. 01:33 And we expect no less from him this very night. 01:37 Again, an interesting topic, Love God and Do As You Please. 01:42 Very, very interesting topic. 01:44 I know the Lord has a word for us this very night. 01:48 Our song tonight comes from some counsel given to 01:51 Timothy in the Word of God. 01:53 Paul telling us to stand. 01:57 To stand for the right though things are going wrong, 02:00 though your courage seems to fail. 02:04 You just stand for Jesus. 02:05 Because God has not given us a spirit of fear. 02:10 But He's given us love and power. 02:13 And so as we stand for Him, we know that He will stand with us. 02:18 That is God's promise to His people. 02:20 We shall pray, sing our song, and then we will 02:22 turn the pulpit over to our friend, our brother in Christ, 02:27 Ty Gibson of Light Bearers Ministry. 02:29 Shall we pray. 02:31 Father God, we praise You and thank You so very much 02:34 for the privilege that is ours to come to the house of prayer. 02:40 We are thankful, Lord, that Jesus is our Friend. 02:45 We are thankful that He has a word for His children. 02:50 And we ask, Lord, that You would give us 02:52 open and attentive ears so that we may hear the Word, 02:58 but also do the Word. 03:00 Because it is in the doing that we are made like Christ Jesus. 03:04 So bless the speaker, bless those who sit in this house, 03:08 and those who hear from around the world. 03:10 May Christ be seen and glorified again this night. 03:15 And we thank You in Jesus' name, amen. 03:40 You just stand, when all your courage seems to fail; 03:49 stand, when it seems that evil will prevail; 03:57 stand, for He shows us in detail 04:03 that His love will never fail; 04:07 and He'll stand with us. 04:10 You just stand, when you've said all that you can say; 04:19 stand, and trust the Lord to make a way; 04:27 stand, and live your life from day to day, 04:33 trust God to make a way, 04:37 and then walk through it. 04:40 For God has not given us the spirit of fear; 04:44 He's given us love and power, 04:49 the courage to resist the tempter's snare. 04:55 Be ye not weary in doing well, 04:59 for only time will tell. 05:04 The works He's begun in you 05:08 will help to see you through. 05:11 You know God's word is true, 05:14 and everything He promised He will do. 05:18 So having done all to stand, 05:23 stand. 05:28 You just stand, when you feel no one's on your side; 05:38 stand, defy the urge to run and hide; 05:45 stand, though gloom and darkness override; 05:52 trust God to turn the tide 05:55 and pull you through it. 05:57 He'll do it in the name of Jesus. 06:00 Stand, for He is always there for you; 06:08 stand, and watch Him lead you safely through; 06:15 stand, and though you know not what to do, 06:22 know that He's looking out for you. 06:25 And He won't fail you. 06:28 For God has not given us the spirit of fear; 06:33 He's given us love and power, 06:38 and the courage to resist the tempter's snare. 06:44 Be ye not weary in doing well, 06:48 for only time will tell. 06:53 The works He's begun in you 06:57 will help to see you through. 07:00 You know God's word is true, 07:03 and everything He promised He will do. 07:07 So having done all to stand, 07:12 stand. 07:17 Plant your feet and stand. 07:30 Thank you, C.A. 07:33 Good evening, everybody. 07:35 One of my absolute favorite things to do is to listen in 07:40 to conversations that my two grandsons have. 07:45 They're brothers, and they are Mason and Austin. 07:50 This particular conversation occurred when they were 07:53 about 4 years old and 6 years old. 07:56 And sometimes I record the conversations 07:59 because they're so hilarious and insightful. 08:03 They didn't know I was listening in, and I was writing 08:06 as fast as I could. 08:08 And this is what occurred between them. 08:11 Mason had just said no to a demand 08:16 of the littler guy, Austin. 08:19 Austin then said, "Big people are suppose to do things 08:24 for little people, not the other way around." 08:28 Mason responded and said, "Well, then why does mommy 08:31 always tell both of us to do things, 08:33 and she's bigger than both of us? 08:35 And we're both little compared to her." 08:37 Austin responded and said, "But you are the big brother. 08:41 So you should do everything I tell you do to, 08:44 because I'm little." 08:46 He was so emphatic. 08:48 Finally Mason responded and said, "Well, I don't think 08:52 you're that little. 08:53 So you should do things for yourself." 08:55 To which Austin responded, "But I'm littler than you are." 08:59 And Mason ended the conversation by saying, 09:02 "But there are lots of little people in the world. 09:04 And I can't do everything for all of them." 09:08 That's the essence of the kind of negotiating 09:14 we go through continually in our minds 09:17 in relationship to God. 09:21 And I want to share with you this evening 09:23 that the big thing, the big task, 09:27 that needs to be done for us has, in fact, been done 09:32 by God for you and me. 09:36 This is a series on the law of God. 09:39 Again, I'll just mention, as we launch into this 09:42 third part in our series, that the law of God is 09:46 not a subject that excites a lot of people. 09:49 It's not something that we're eager to explore and 09:52 study and look at. 09:53 Because we generally perceive the idea, the very idea, 09:58 of law as restrictive. 10:01 If somebody begins speaking about law or rules 10:06 or regulations, we tend to lean away from those conversations 10:11 because we feel like it's encroaching upon 10:13 our liberty. 10:15 But we discover in Scripture that God's law itself 10:20 is unlike any other kinds of laws. 10:23 Unlike civil laws, unlike human laws, 10:27 that are merely based on the necessities 10:31 of human societies in order to keep them operating 10:36 soundly on a judicial level. 10:39 God's law is different. 10:41 It's distinct. 10:42 And certain aspects of God's law do show up in civil law. 10:46 "Thou shalt not commit murder," obviously shows up 10:52 in civil judicial systems. 10:55 But God's law goes deeper than that, as we're going to 10:59 discover this evening. 11:00 We don't need to dicker with God as to 11:04 who ought to do what in the relationship. 11:07 Because as we're about to discover, God has done 11:10 everything necessary for our salvation. 11:14 And we're in the position of simply, by faith, 11:18 responding to what He has achieved on our behalf. 11:24 He's the big guy in the universe and He's done the big task 11:30 on our behalf. 11:31 Now you should be, I would imagine, 11:36 uncomfortable with the title this evening. 11:39 Did you feel a little bit of discomfort when C.A. 11:43 told the title? 11:45 Love God and Do As You Please. 11:46 I want you just to hold that in your mind. 11:48 We're going to come back to it. 11:50 It's a little bit of a riddle. 11:51 I meant for it to kind of, you know, rouse you 11:54 in your thinking. 11:55 To wonder, "Is that true or not?" 11:57 We're about to discover whether it's true or not. 11:59 We're going to spend our time in Galatians chapter 5, 12:03 for the most part. 12:04 We'll look at some other passages, but definitely 12:06 we're going to spend most of our time in Galatians chapter 5. 12:11 This is a powerful passage of Scripture in which 12:15 the apostle Paul is unpacking the glory of 12:19 the gospel of Christ. 12:21 And he's making it so astoundingly clear 12:24 that we need make no mistake regarding the part that 12:28 God plays and what it is that He's looking for from us. 12:32 Galatians chapter 5 starting with verse 1. 12:37 Paul begins by saying, "Stand fast therefore in the liberty 12:43 with which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled 12:49 again with a yoke of bondage." 12:52 Okay, let's just pause right there. 12:54 This is very unique language that we spent some time 12:58 exploring from other passages last night. 13:02 Notice, Paul says, "Stand fast in the liberty 13:07 where with Christ has made us free." 13:11 There is a past tense, accomplished, achieved liberty 13:17 that Jesus, as our Savior, has already worked out for us. 13:22 We're not called upon in the gospel to manufacture 13:27 our liberty. 13:29 We're not called upon to work out our liberty 13:33 from sin and guilt. No. 13:34 Jesus has accomplished salvation in Himself. 13:39 You'll remember the language from our previous message 13:42 where Paul, in Romans 3, spoke of the redemption 13:46 that is in Christ Jesus. 13:50 It's an accomplished fact. 13:52 And our faith, our obedience, our trust, even our belief, 13:57 doesn't manufacture any new facts. 14:02 Our faith is externally focused on things that are already true. 14:10 Notice that the good news of the gospel is, in fact, 14:15 good news. 14:16 It's not called good advice. 14:19 Good advice is what's offered by every other philosophical 14:24 and religious system in the world. 14:26 Good advice is telling you and me as sinners 14:29 what we ought to do, what we should do, 14:32 what we had better do in order to rectify our situation. 14:37 Good advice points me toward something I need to achieve. 14:43 But good news points back to something 14:47 that's already been achieved. 14:49 It's news. 14:50 It's something that's already happened. 14:52 And we, then, are called upon to acknowledge the good news, 14:58 to believe the good news, to exercise faith and trust 15:01 in what's already been accomplished. 15:04 So Paul begins here by simply telling us, you should 15:08 stand fast in the liberty with which Christ 15:14 has already liberated you. 15:17 You're free in Christ if you will choose by faith 15:22 to acknowledge the liberty He's worked out on your behalf. 15:26 There is no additional work to be done by you and me 15:30 to create additional liberty. 15:34 It is a matter of, by faith, acknowledging 15:38 the achievements of Christ. 15:41 And then Paul goes on to build upon this foundation 15:46 by telling us that we're not to be entangled again with 15:49 the yoke of bondage. 15:51 Did you catch that in verse 1? 15:52 "Stand in the liberty with which Christ has made us free, 15:57 and don't be entangled again with a yoke of bondage." 16:01 What is this bondage that Paul is urging us 16:05 not to be entangled with again? 16:08 Well, he's speaking in his own context. 16:11 Back in chapter 4, he talked about bondage in verse 25. 16:17 He had been talking about the old covenant 16:22 verses the new covenant. 16:24 He had been using the story of Abraham and his two sons, 16:29 Isaac and Ishmael. 16:30 One by the bondwoman and the other by the free woman. 16:34 One by Sarah, and one by one of Sarah's servants. 16:39 And notice, the apostle Paul, trying to contrast between 16:42 old and new covenant, basically says the difference 16:46 between these two is that the new covenant 16:49 is based on the promise of God to do what God 16:53 in His power alone can achieve. 16:56 The old covenant, by contrast, is based on what Abraham 17:01 and Sarah put their heads together as human beings 17:04 to apply their effort, to apply their power, 17:07 to the task of helping God fulfill His promise. 17:11 God had said to Abraham, "You will have a son. 17:16 I, God Almighty, promise you, even though you're old, Abraham, 17:21 even though your body is past the age of child birth, 17:25 and even though your wife Sarah's body is beyond 17:28 the age of natural child birth, I promise you, Abraham, 17:32 you will have a son. 17:35 You will have a son. 17:36 And in that son, all the nations of the earth will be blessed. 17:42 All the people of the world will be blessed in that 17:44 promised lineage, through which Messiah will come." 17:50 But Abraham and Sarah, getting impatient, 17:56 decided to apply themselves to the task in their own way. 18:02 "We're not going to be able to produce the child God has 18:06 promised, so let's help God produce or achieve 18:12 what God apparently can't get done Himself on our behalf." 18:17 And so they came up with the idea of Abraham 18:22 having relations with Sarah's handmaid in order to 18:27 produce an heir. 18:29 God refused to acknowledge Ishmael as the proper 18:37 promised heir. 18:39 He refused because there was something fundamentally wrong 18:44 with the theological outlook of Abraham and Sarah. 18:50 God simply renewed the promise, repeated the promise. 18:53 He said, "No, that child is not what I promised. 18:56 I promised to produce a child out of Sarah's body 19:02 based on My power to get the job done." 19:06 It's very interesting in the story that Paul 19:08 is referring to here. 19:10 It's very interesting that when he tells the story, 19:15 he's referring back to something that everyone of the people 19:19 he's talking to would be familiar with. 19:21 He's telling the story of Abraham, and there is 19:25 a part of the story that is very, shall we say, 19:29 uncomfortable for everybody, because after Abraham and Sarah 19:37 attempted to fulfill God's promise by the potence, 19:42 the biological potence, of Abraham with the bondwoman, 19:48 God said, "Abraham, now everybody in your line 19:53 needs to be circumcised." 19:57 Circumcised. 19:58 Why circumcised? 20:00 It's such an odd thing for God to require. 20:03 But God required it as a constant reminder 20:07 that Abraham had employed his own power 20:11 to produce the heir. 20:13 And God, in that symbolism, was saying to Abraham, 20:17 and to Sarah by extension, "Not by your power, 20:21 not by your ability. 20:22 The promise is going to be fulfilled by My power, 20:26 by My promise." 20:28 And so Paul, drawing upon that story in chapter 4 of Galatians, 20:33 draws a contrast between the child of promise, 20:37 that's Isaac, and the child of works, which was Ishmael. 20:44 And he says, "This is symbolic of the two covenants." 20:50 Now think this through very carefully. 20:52 Essentially, what we have before us in the old covenant 20:56 and the new covenant is this: 20:59 The old covenant isn't so much something that applies 21:03 to a certain time in history as it is something 21:06 that applies to a certain kind of experience 21:09 at any time in history. 21:11 It's not the dispensationalism idea that people use to, 21:17 in the Old Testament, they were saved by works, 21:19 and now in the New Testament times they're saved by grace. 21:22 No. 21:24 Grace has always been the only means of salvation. 21:27 And down through history, Old Testament and New Testament, 21:31 and our very day as well, each one of us at any given time 21:37 in our spiritual experience, we are living old covenant 21:43 ideas or we're living new covenant ideas. 21:48 To live within the old covenant is to live within 21:52 a paradigm of salvation that is dependent on self to fulfill 21:59 personal salvation to some degree or another. 22:02 Whereas the new covenant is a person, an experience, 22:08 in which the dependence is utterly and completely 22:12 on God to make good on the promise that He has made. 22:17 So when we come to chapter 5 with that background, 22:21 the apostle Paul says, "Stand fast in the liberty 22:25 with which Christ has made us free." 22:28 You're already free by the promise of God. 22:31 You can't manufacture your freedom, your salvation. 22:35 What you need is to acknowledge Christ as your Savior 22:40 and rest your entire dependence upon Him. 22:44 "Stand fast in the liberty with which Christ has made us free, 22:50 and don't be entangled again with a yoke of bondage." 22:53 Now we understand what he means by the yoke of bondage. 22:56 In the context of chapter 4, what is the bondage 23:01 that he's urging us not to be entangled with again? 23:04 It's the bondage of an old covenant manner of relating 23:09 to salvation and to God. 23:11 Don't be entangled, theologically or experientially, 23:18 with a way of thinking and living that is focused on 23:23 depending upon yourself. 23:28 Allow yourself to live within the liberty of the salvation 23:33 that has already been achieved for you in Christ. 23:36 Well then he unpacks the idea further. 23:39 And we come now down to verses 5 and 6. 23:42 We can't look at every verse for the sake of time, 23:44 so we're going to look at the high points 23:46 of his reasoning here. 23:47 Going down to verses 5 and 6, we have a marvelous and powerful 23:52 declaration of the truth of righteousness by faith. 23:56 Now if you have spent any time in Christian circles, 24:01 you have heard the terminology, "righteousness by faith." 24:05 Here is the single, the only time that the phrase itself 24:10 occurs in the Bible. 24:13 In chapter 5 of Galatians, 5 and 6. 24:16 That doesn't mean the idea isn't present 24:19 in Scripture other places. 24:20 It is. 24:21 Genesis to Revelation, righteousness by faith 24:23 is the subject. 24:25 But the exact wording, "righteousness by faith," 24:28 occurs one time in the Bible. 24:30 And it's right here. 24:31 Notice, verses 5 and 6. 24:34 "For we," Paul says, "For we through the Spirit," 24:38 that is the Holy Spirit, "eagerly wait for the hope 24:43 of righteousness by..." What? 24:46 "...righteousness by faith." 24:48 There's our term. 24:49 Now he's going to break it down for us. 24:51 Verse 6, "For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision 24:57 nor uncircumcision avails anything, but faith 25:02 that works by love." 25:05 This is amazing what Paul is telling us here. 25:08 First of all, we just need to clarify 25:11 that he's only referring to circumcision 25:15 as one of the hot button issues, one of the 25:17 controversial issues of his time. 25:20 If we were to modernize it to our particular setting, 25:24 we wouldn't speak about circumcision or uncircumcision 25:28 in this context, because that's not a controversial point 25:31 that people are pressing in upon and arguing over whether or not 25:36 it has saving virtue. 25:38 We would put in there other things that are hot button 25:42 issues of controversy today, and issues that we, quite frankly, 25:45 find to be important, but Paul is telling us 25:48 don't have saving value. 25:52 So we might say, "For in Christ Jesus, neither..." 25:58 What? And what would you put there? 25:59 Sabbath keeping or not Sabbath keeping? 26:04 Practicing health principles or not practicing principles? 26:10 Would you even go so far as to say, keeping the law of God 26:14 or not keeping the law of God? 26:18 It's a very uncomfortable question for those who 26:20 believe the Sabbath, and for those who believe in 26:23 the immutability of God's law, the eternality of God's law. 26:27 I'm one of those. 26:29 I'm a Sabbath keeper. 26:30 I believe in the seventh day Sabbath. 26:34 I'm one who believes that God's law is immutable 26:37 and eternal. 26:40 But Paul is simply saying to you and me 26:43 with regards to salvation, 26:47 with regards to salvation, this nor that avails anything. 26:53 There's only one thing that avails for salvation. 26:57 Allow Paul to unpack his own thinking here. 27:00 He says there's one thing that avails for salvation. 27:05 Faith that works by love. 27:09 That's all. That's all. 27:12 Are we uncomfortable with that? 27:15 Do we find ourselves struggling to understand whether or not 27:21 Paul is doing away with any kind of behavioral compliance, 27:26 any kind of obedience? 27:28 Is he attempting to sideline, to marginalize, 27:31 or to do away with the law of God? 27:34 Absolutely not. 27:35 He's simply putting the law of God in its proper place 27:40 in the scheme of things for salvation and for the gospel. 27:45 Think about it this way. 27:47 If I make the statement to you right now 27:50 and ask you to respond true or false, 27:52 I wonder what your answer would be. 27:55 Obedience to the law of God is necessary for salvation. 28:00 True or false? 28:05 I head whispers of true and false. 28:09 I mean, true and false as two different answers. 28:13 Okay, just wrap your minds around this little nuance, 28:16 this little change, okay. 28:18 Just exercise your mind with me biblically. 28:21 Let's think biblically tonight, okay? 28:24 The first statement, "Obedience to the law of God is necessary 28:29 for salvation;" true or false? 28:30 Just let the answer register, whatever your answer is. 28:32 I'm just going to change it slightly now, okay? 28:34 Here we go. 28:36 Obedience to the law of God is inevitable 28:40 within salvation. 28:43 Do you hear the difference between the two? 28:46 Obedience to the law of God is necessary for salvation. 28:51 In that scheme of things, what comes first, 28:53 obedience or salvation? 28:56 Obedience comes first as the means of obtaining salvation. 29:03 Now what's the difference in the second wording? 29:06 Obedience to the law of God is inevitable 29:10 within salvation. 29:12 What's the difference now? 29:14 Salvation is a free gift that is in place. 29:18 And within the experience of salvation, what occurs? 29:24 Obedience to the law of God. 29:26 Obedience begins to occur as the natural by-product 29:32 of salvation by grace through faith alone in Christ. 29:36 Now don't turn there, for the sake of time, 29:38 but this is a familiar text. 29:40 And I'll just take us there and come back to Galatians, okay? 29:44 And you'll see the difference here very, very clearly. 29:47 In Ephesians chapter 2 verses 8 through 10, 29:52 listen to the words here. 29:54 "For by grace you have been saved through faith, 29:59 and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God," 30:03 notice the language now, 30:04 "not of works, lest anyone should boast. 30:10 For we are His workmanship," I'm in verse 10 now, 30:14 "created in Christ Jesus for good works, 30:18 which God has before ordained that we should walk in them." 30:23 Did you hear the text? 30:25 Works are mentioned twice. 30:29 Did you catch it? Twice. 30:32 Notice the difference. 30:33 "For by grace you have been saved through faith, 30:36 and that not of yourselves... lest any man should boast." 30:41 So we're not saved by works. 30:45 But then he goes on and says, "For we are His workmanship 30:49 created in Christ Jesus unto good works..." 30:52 What's the difference between, "of," and, "unto"? 30:56 Do you hear the logical connection between 31:00 the two aspects? 31:02 Do you see the direction that Paul's thinking is going? 31:04 If I say to you, "I am not saved of good works," 31:11 have I negated good works all together? 31:15 No, because now I'm going to turn around and I'm going to 31:17 say something else. 31:18 "But I am saved unto good works." 31:22 Do you hear the difference? 31:24 This is Paul's thinking. 31:25 I'm not saved by my works. 31:28 But if I'm saved, will there be works? 31:31 Yes or no. 31:32 Yes, there will be good works. 31:33 The good works are inherent in the salvation itself. 31:41 I don't procure, I don't achieve, I don't gain 31:45 salvation by my obedience. 31:47 But if I am genuinely experiencing salvation 31:52 by faith through grace alone in Christ, 31:54 will there be obedience, will there good works? 31:57 Yes, that's going to be the natural outgrowth of 32:02 my saving relationship with Christ. 32:04 Now come back to Galatians chapter 5. 32:05 You're going to love this. 32:07 This is amazing. 32:09 So he's told us in verse 1 that Jesus has already set us free 32:14 in Himself as our Savior. 32:15 He accomplished salvation for us. 32:18 Stand in that liberty. 32:20 And then he says, verses 5 and 6 again, 32:23 "We eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith." 32:26 And then Paul explains exactly how righteousness by faith 32:31 works, how it operates. 32:34 He says, because in Christ Jesus, it's not circumcision 32:39 or uncircumcision that avails anything for my salvation. 32:43 It's not Sabbath keeping or not keeping the Sabbath. 32:47 It's not keeping the law or not keeping the law for salvation. 32:52 Notice the qualification. 32:53 Paul is not doing away with the law. 32:55 He's simply putting it in its right place. 32:57 And then he says this, watch this: 33:00 What does avail? 33:02 Faith that works by love. 33:07 That's what avails. 33:09 That's what really makes the experience 33:14 everything its suppose to be. 33:16 And he's done something interesting here. 33:19 The word here that is translated in the English, "works," 33:23 "faith works by love," is a Greek word... 33:28 Which when I say it, you'll immediately know 33:32 what the word means. 33:33 Because it's very close to an English... 33:35 You know that the English language, don't you, 33:37 is not a pure language. 33:39 It's an amalgamation, it's a hi-jack operation. 33:42 The English language is a hodgepodge of Greek and Latin 33:47 and Spanish and various other languages all brought together 33:52 in some kind of weird mix. 33:54 And that's why we have so many strange grammatical rules 33:56 that even those of us who know English grammar well 34:00 can't figure out sometimes. 34:01 It's a mess, the English language. 34:04 And there are a lot of Greek words that we use. 34:07 Here's one; I'm going to say the Greek word, 34:10 and you'll immediately know what the English equivalent is. 34:13 The word, "works," here is in the Greek, "energeo." 34:19 What's the word? 34:20 Energy or energize. 34:23 So literally what Paul is saying here, follow his reasoning, 34:27 he says, "We eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness 34:33 by faith..." 34:34 So righteousness is by faith. 34:37 And it's not this or that or the other, outward compliance. 34:40 No obedience to any requirement that produces salvation, 34:45 that purchases it, that merits it. 34:47 No. 34:49 But faith which is energized by love. 34:55 Or we might say it this way; faith that is empowered by love. 35:01 There is an electrical system in this building, 35:06 there is a wiring system, there are switches on walls. 35:11 If the switches are turned off, there is no power 35:16 moving through the conduit of the wiring system 35:20 to bring illumination and warmeth into the building. 35:25 What needs to happen is to walk over to the wall 35:27 and flip the appropriate switch. 35:30 And immediately what happens? 35:32 Power begins to flow through the system. 35:37 Similarly, the human being is a system that needs to be 35:43 electrified, if you all. 35:45 Energized, empowered. 35:48 And according to the apostle Paul, what is the energizing, 35:52 empowering factor in the plan of salvation? 35:57 It is the love of God. 36:00 Righteousness, he says, is by faith. 36:03 And faith is energized by love. 36:06 These are the basic three components in Paul's thinking. 36:11 Righteousness is not something that you and I 36:14 can focus on productively. 36:18 We can't manufacture righteousness. 36:22 In fact, the Bible goes so far as to present to you and me 36:26 how absolutely unrighteous we are and how impossible it is 36:32 for us as human beings to achieve or to manufacture 36:36 righteousness on our own. 36:38 For example, Jesus says, "Which one of you 36:42 by taking thought can add one cubit to his stature?" 36:48 It's a really great illustration that Jesus is using. 36:52 He's simply saying that you can't, by mere mental 36:57 determination, get taller. 37:01 It doesn't matter how long you apply your mind 37:05 to the positive thinking toward getting taller, 37:08 "Which one of you," Jesus says, "by taking thought 37:11 can add one cubit to his..." 37:13 You can't get taller by thinking about it hard enough 37:17 or trying hard enough. 37:19 And Old Testament Scripture says that all of our righteousnesses 37:23 are as filthy rags, and then reasons with us 37:27 that a leopard can't change its spots 37:31 and a human being can't his or her skin color. 37:35 What's the point that the prophet is making? 37:38 There are things that are beyond human capacity. 37:43 There are things that are beyond our ability to pull off, 37:46 to achieve. 37:47 You can't get taller by thinking hard enough about it, 37:50 and you can't change the color of your skin 37:53 by trying hard enough. 37:55 So righteousness is not something that you and I 37:59 can productively focus on and try to achieve 38:02 in and of ourselves. 38:04 That's the point. 38:05 If I had a billion dollars... 38:06 That's pretty motivating, by the way. 38:08 If I had a billion dollars here before you this evening 38:12 and I asked all of you, "Do you want this one billion dollars?" 38:17 Everyone of you in your right mind would say, "Of course. 38:19 Give it to me. Hand it over. 38:21 I'll take it." 38:23 You want it, but if I said to you in the next breath, 38:26 "There's just one condition. Just one. 38:30 Not three or four or five, just one condition. 38:33 All you have to do is jump and touch the moon once. 38:39 One time. 38:40 That's all you've got to do." 38:41 How many of you would actually stand up and start jumping? 38:46 You wouldn't. 38:47 Because you know that the task that has been assigned 38:52 is beyond the realm of possibility. 38:57 Similarly, righteousness, in the equation that Paul is 39:02 building for us here, righteousness is not 39:04 something that human beings are capable of achieving 39:09 or manufacturing by thinking about it, by trying hard enough. 39:15 Paul says that righteousness is only by faith. 39:23 But what about faith? 39:24 Is faith something that you and I, by merely trying hard enough 39:30 or thinking hard enough, can manufacture and produce 39:33 in ourselves? 39:34 Here's the biblical picture of faith. 39:37 First of all, we're told in Romans that God has 39:41 given or dealt to every person a measure of faith. 39:45 So from the get go, faith itself is a gift of God. 39:50 It's not something that is commonly represented as 39:53 positive thinking. 39:54 Often times, faith is represented in our world 39:58 as simply thinking positive thoughts and visualizing 40:03 things so that they'll come to pass. 40:05 Sometimes you'll hear preachers talk about faith 40:08 in the sense of believing hard enough that God will 40:12 give you the best parking space, for example, 40:15 in a shopping center, as if that were of significance. 40:19 Faith is not a trivial matter of positive thinking. 40:24 First of all, biblically speaking, 40:26 faith is a gift of God. 40:28 It's like a sleeping giant of possibility lying dormant 40:32 in every one of our hearts. 40:34 It's there. 40:35 To make this clear, I could use my own experience. 40:38 I had faith, as a gift from God, deposited in my human soul 40:47 from the beginning of my life. 40:50 It was there. 40:51 But I did not begin to experience the exercise 40:56 of my faith until I was 17 years old. 40:59 It was there, it just wasn't active. 41:02 Are you following me? 41:04 It was present. 41:05 Like for example, the faculty of reason is present. 41:10 It's there as a potential that can be exercised. 41:14 But not everybody exercises their cause and effect 41:17 reasoning capacity. 41:19 Some people jump off buildings thinking they can fly. 41:22 And gravity has its way with them. 41:25 The fact is, that just because you have the capacity to reason 41:30 doesn't mean you're reasonable. 41:33 Do you hear the difference? 41:34 So faith was there in my heart, but it was inactive. 41:38 It was lying dormant until I came in contact 41:42 with the love of God. 41:45 And that's Paul's point. 41:48 We, according to Scripture, only achieve righteousness 41:53 by faith... 41:55 And then Paul adds the third component. 41:58 What does he say in verse 6? 41:59 ...and faith is energized by love. 42:04 I can't achieve righteousness in and of myself. 42:08 Nor is faith something that I can stimulate and bring into 42:11 action if left to myself. 42:13 The vital need is far more fundamental than that. 42:18 I need to have a living clear vivid encounter with the love 42:25 of God in Christ. 42:27 That's what Calvary is all about. 42:31 Jesus dies on the cross in order to demonstrate, 42:36 to use Paul's language in Romans chapter 5, 42:39 to demonstrate the love that God has for you and me. 42:45 God demonstrated the love that He has for you and me 42:50 in the death of Christ at the cross. 42:51 A demonstration is something that is put on display 42:55 to behold, to see it, to grasp it, to comprehend it. 43:00 And so when Jesus anticipates that He's going to the cross 43:04 to die, He says things like this, He says, 43:06 "I, when I am lifted up, will draw all to Me." 43:12 Notice the word, "draw." 43:13 It's the idea of being attracted to Jesus. 43:18 He is simply saying that, "When I die on the cross, 43:22 something beautiful is going to be revealed." 43:27 The self-giving, self-sacrificing, 43:31 love of God will be revealed at the cross. 43:34 And anyone who looks upon that display of divine love 43:40 will find their heart strangely warmed and drawn back to God 43:46 in repentance. 43:48 That love is what one author calls a, "matchless attraction." 43:56 It's without rival. 43:59 What we see happening in Jesus is a display of love 44:04 that moves our hearts at the deepest possible level. 44:09 As we mentioned in an earlier message, you and I 44:14 are engineered for love. 44:16 Psychologically, emotionally, and even biologically, 44:20 we are made to operate by the energizing, empowering, 44:25 force of God's love. 44:28 Just like the light system in this building 44:31 is energized by electricity, the human being is energized 44:37 by living, vital, encounter with the love of God. 44:41 This is why over and over again we find in the New Testament 44:45 this idea that we are called upon to, to quote John 44:50 in 1 John chapter 3, "Behold, what manner of love the 44:55 Father has bestowed upon us that we should be called 44:59 the children of God." 45:00 What are we to do with this love? 45:03 Behold it. 45:05 Not just with the eyes, but with the mind and with the heart. 45:09 To look upon this love and to allow it access 45:15 to our hearts. 45:17 To embrace it, to accept it, to allow ourselves to be 45:21 loved by God in the way that Jesus revealed His love for us. 45:29 When that happens, the apostle Paul says something radical 45:33 and amazing, and utterly non-human in the sense of 45:40 our own power begins to take place. 45:42 Something that's supernatural, not natural, begins to happen. 45:46 Righteousness is by faith, and faith is energized by love. 45:54 You and I need then to focus our attention 45:58 upon the cross of Christ. 46:01 And as we do, notice what's happening. 46:04 To focus on the cross of Calvary means we have turned our 46:08 attention away from whom? 46:10 From ourselves, that's right. 46:12 We have turned away from ourself. 46:16 Which is to say, we have turned away from self-dependence. 46:20 We have turned away from our own resources and abilities. 46:24 We've turned away from our own power 46:27 to manufacture righteousness. 46:30 We've turned away from ourselves, 46:32 we're looking upon Christ. 46:34 And as we look to Him, we begin to be empowered 46:38 on a level we never imagined. 46:42 Because we begin to love like God loves again. 46:48 And there's no greater power in all the universe 46:52 than the power of God's love. 46:55 So Paul is reasoning with you and me. 46:58 He is pleading with you and me. 47:00 He's saying, "Don't be entangled with the yoke of bondage 47:04 to an old covenant orientation in your relationship with God." 47:09 Don't allow your mind to be caught in the snare 47:13 of old covenant theological views where the focus 47:19 is on me and what I ought to do and what I had better do, 47:22 or else, in order to be saved, in order to make it. 47:26 No. 47:28 Turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face; 47:33 and the things of this earth will grow strangely dim 47:37 in the light of His glory and grace. 47:40 You will find yourself irresistibly attracted to God 47:46 if you focus your attention off of yourself onto Christ. 47:52 The promise of the gospel that Paul is unpacking for us here 47:57 is a salvation that is by grace alone through faith alone 48:02 in Christ alone. 48:04 He's the Savior and His love is the energizing force 48:10 of that salvation. 48:11 Well then Paul goes on. 48:14 And he reasons further and says some things 48:18 that we tend to find uncomfortable, 48:21 but are vitally necessary for us to understand and internalize. 48:25 Go down to verses 13 and 14 of Galatians 5. 48:30 He says, "For you, brethren, have been called to liberty..." 48:35 Alright, he's made that clear in the previous verses. 48:38 You've been called to liberty. 48:40 Stand in the liberty by which Christ has made you free. 48:44 But then he says this, he says, "...only do not use 48:48 liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, 48:52 but through love serve one another." 48:57 Do you hear what he's saying here? 48:59 We're liberated in Christ. 49:02 Our salvation is by grace alone through faith alone 49:05 in Christ alone. 49:07 And listen, Paul is saying, there are one of two ways 49:10 you can relate to that liberty. 49:12 You can either, within that liberty, love one another 49:18 and love God supremely... 49:20 Right? 49:21 ...or you can misinterpret your liberty as an excuse, 49:26 as an occasion, as an opportunity, 49:30 to continue in sin. 49:32 Do you hear what he's saying? 49:33 You can say to yourself, you can reason to yourself 49:35 like this, you can say, "Wow, if God's that good, 49:40 and He's forgiven me by His grace alone through faith 49:44 alone in Christ, if salvation isn't something I can 49:48 contribute to, if I can't be saved by my works, 49:52 well then I'll just sin with gusto. 49:56 I'll just do whatever I jolly well please. 49:58 I'll live for myself." 50:01 That's one way you can reason through grace. 50:04 But what would Paul say to you and me on that account? 50:07 He would say, "You don't get it. 50:09 You don't get it. 50:10 People who are in love don't violate 50:14 the one they're in love with." 50:16 That's how Paul would reason with you. 50:18 Don't use your liberty as an occasion for sin. 50:23 Don't capitalize on the freedom that God has given you in Christ 50:27 by continuing in a life of sin. 50:31 No, liberty, the liberty that has been purchased for us 50:34 in Christ is intended to bring us back to God, 50:37 not to send us off into sin with a presumptuous hope 50:42 that we'll be saved in our sins. 50:45 Jesus by His grace doesn't save us in sin. 50:50 He saves us from sin. 50:54 And according to Paul's reasoning now, 50:57 he says, "...do not use liberty as an opportunity for the flesh, 51:04 but through love serve one another." 51:06 Do you hear what he's saying? 51:08 You've been saved by grace, so stop violating one another 51:12 in the body of Christ. 51:14 He goes so far in verse 14 to say, "For all the law, 51:22 all the law is fulfilled in one word," in one statement. 51:26 And what is it? 51:28 Wow. 51:29 "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." 51:34 And then he gives this rebuke, "But if you bite and devour 51:42 one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another." 51:45 This is kind of a, I guess we could call it a kind of 51:48 Christian cannibalism. 51:51 He says you bite and devour one another. 51:53 What's this that he's describing? 51:56 Gossip and backbiting in the church. 51:58 People living in violation of one another. 52:03 Paul says, "No, don't sin against one another 52:06 because you have the liberty of salvation by grace. 52:08 Salvation by grace ought to heighten your desire 52:12 to live in love toward one another." 52:15 Grace doesn't condone sin. 52:18 Grace is the mechanism by which God gives us the power 52:22 to overcome it. 52:24 That's Paul's understanding, that's his thinking. 52:27 He goes on and he says something very fascinating 52:30 down in verses 22 and 23. 52:33 He talks about what the Christian life will look like. 52:37 He says, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, 52:42 longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 52:45 gentleness, and self-control." 52:48 Those are the kind of things that will be taking place 52:51 in the life that is saved by grace through faith 52:54 and has liberty in Christ. 52:55 And then he says something very, very interesting. 52:58 The latter part of verse 23, he says, 53:01 "Against such there is no..." What? 53:05 There's no law. 53:06 There's no law against love. 53:10 There's no law that forbids joy. 53:12 There's no law that stands against self-control. 53:15 Paul is saying that when we live within the parameters 53:20 of grace where the love of God begins to become 53:24 the impetus and the motive and the constant inclination 53:30 of our hearts, when that begins to take place within us, 53:33 Paul is informing us something so remarkable takes place 53:38 that within the power of God's love, we begin to 53:40 love like God loves. 53:43 Loving Him and loving one another. 53:46 So now we come back to our title. 53:49 Love God and Do As You Please. 53:51 What do you think, true or false? 53:55 True or false? 53:57 Love God and Do As You Please. 53:59 Well it could be true, it could be false. 54:01 It all depends on whether or not you really love God. 54:06 I mean, think about it. 54:07 If I am truly, by virtue of the love of Christ 54:12 displayed toward me, drawn back to Him, 54:15 and I love God because He first loved me, 54:18 watch this, I'm going to please to do what He pleases. 54:23 My heart will be changed. 54:24 There's this powerful statement in, Desire Of Ages, page 668, 54:30 commentary on the life of Christ that you're going to find 54:32 very interesting in this regard. 54:34 It says this... 54:40 Notice, it comes from the heart. 54:44 That means, Jesus came to this world to reach people's hearts. 54:52 Notice our role, "...if we consent..." 55:13 What do you think of that? 55:16 That is a longer version of the title of this message. 55:22 Love God and Do As You Please. 55:24 Jesus, when He was in this world, said, "I do always 55:31 those things that please God." 55:34 Notice, Jesus found in His relationship with God 55:39 that He pleased to do what God pleased. 55:43 Isn't that how love works? 55:46 Notice what the Bible says in regards to this 55:51 in Psalm 40 and verse 8, 55:53 where David really gets the new covenant. 55:55 He understands it when he says, "I delight to do Your will, 56:02 O my God, for Your law is within my heart." 56:07 You hear that? 56:08 The language of delight, the language of pleasure, 56:12 the language of pleasing to do what God pleases. 56:16 Why? 56:18 Because God, in His great mercy, has so beautifully loved us 56:24 first in Christ. 56:27 When we look to Calvary, we see such a marvelous 56:32 beautiful display of self-sacrificing love 56:37 that it radically changes our heart toward God. 56:42 Something happens deep on the inside 56:46 of our humanity. 56:48 And the apostle Paul says that you begin to experience 56:51 a righteousness which is by faith, and a faith 56:58 that works by love. 57:01 That is my prayer for you and for myself, 57:04 that we would be partakers of the love of Christ 57:08 by which faith is energized to lay hold upon 57:13 the righteousness of Christ. 57:15 Would you pray with me. 57:16 Father in heaven, thank You for loving us the way You do. 57:22 Thank You, Father, for the beautiful truth of righteousness 57:26 by faith that works by love. |
Revised 2015-09-16