Participants: Ty Gibson
Series Code: AOT
Program Code: AOT000150
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00:13 Welcome to Anchors Of Truth
00:15 live from the 3ABN Worship Center. 00:21 We do welcome you to the final presentation 00:25 in what has been a really exciting and spiritual 00:29 series of presentations dealing with the law and with love. 00:34 So we welcome our audience here in Thompsonville, Illinois 00:37 and we welcome those of you who are watching 00:39 and listening from around the world. 00:41 The other night Ty and I were talking and we happened to hit 00:45 on a subject that was sort of tangential to what 00:48 he's been preaching about. 00:49 And he said, "C.A., you've got to preach this." 00:52 And I have a fairly long list of things that I want to 00:55 preach on, so I said, "Well, I'll add that. 00:57 You know, I'll put it there somewhere 00:58 on the bottom of the list." 00:59 Because he was giving me a homework assignment. 01:01 And I didn't need another homework assignment. 01:03 I tend not to like homework assignments. 01:05 But he said, "You've got to preach this." 01:08 And then as he went into the message that night 01:10 and the subsequent nights, that assignment kept coming 01:14 closer to the top of the list. 01:15 And now that I've heard four of his presentations, 01:17 now I've got to preach it. 01:19 In fact, the next time I preach, I will probably 01:20 preach on that subject. 01:21 Because it is tangential to what we are talking about. 01:24 What Ty has been walking us through is really, 01:28 not the necessity of keeping the law, 01:32 but as we discussed today, the inevitability of 01:35 keeping the law once you've got a functioning 01:37 working love relationship with Jesus Christ. 01:40 So that it's not something you do, it is something you are. 01:43 It's not something that you're striving to do. 01:45 It's something that comes as a natural consequence 01:48 of being in love with Jesus. 01:50 And that is an old doctrine, but it is also a new doctrine. 01:54 Because the Adventist church has had to, sort of, 01:56 wrestle with that since its early days. 01:59 Keep the law? Yeah. 02:01 But how do you keep the law? 02:03 Why do you keep the law? 02:05 You put Christ in the center of the law, 02:07 and the law makes sense. 02:09 It's not something you are striving and grasping to do. 02:12 It is something that's a natural consequence 02:13 of being in love with Jesus Christ. 02:15 And that's what we found out during these last several days. 02:18 And so tonight's presentation, No Harm, I'm sure will 02:21 follow in that context. 02:23 Danny and Ty and I were discussing this. 02:26 This is what the Adventist church needs. 02:29 This is what the world needs. 02:31 It needs to know that it all revolves around Jesus. 02:36 That it becomes so much easier when you start with a 02:39 loving relationship with Jesus. 02:41 You don't start with the law. 02:43 You start with Jesus. 02:44 And everything else follows in its train. 02:46 And Ty has done that so very, very beautifully and 02:51 illustrated that for us during these last several sessions. 02:53 And we expect no less than that again this evening. 02:56 Of course, our guest, our speak, is Ty Gibson. 02:58 He is co-founder of Light Bearers Ministry. 03:01 And as has been so well articulated, they have given 03:04 hundreds of millions of pieces of literature out 03:06 around the world. 03:07 And doing a wonderful job doing that. 03:11 If you have known 3ABN for many years, 03:14 you remember Ty from the days when he was a young guy 03:17 with a beard, a young guy trying to look old. 03:20 Now he's an older guy trying to look young. 03:24 He's gotten rid of that beard and he looks a little better. 03:26 I think clean shaven, for me. 03:27 You can actually see his face. 03:29 Good looking guy once you can see that face 03:31 out from under all that beard. 03:33 And really a wonderful... 03:36 I'll tell you why I shaved my beard. 03:39 Because I was on 3ABN and I got mail from 3ABN viewers, 03:45 most of them older women, who said, 03:49 "You look like the criminal element. 03:53 You need to get that hair off your face." 03:56 - So I shaved. - Praise the Lord. 04:00 We'll edit that later. 04:03 The question really is, and Ty has been asking it 04:07 for these past several presentations, 04:10 do you love God? 04:12 How much do you love God? 04:13 And if you love Him, let your actions 04:17 let the whole world know. 04:19 We'll pray, and then sing that song. 04:22 And then Ty will give us his presentation. 04:23 Father God, we praise You and we do love You. 04:28 What we want is to love You more, 04:33 to love You best, so that You can use us 04:37 any way that you see fit. 04:40 Please, Lord, speak to us just now, because we want to 04:45 hear a word from You. 04:47 And we thank You in Jesus' name, amen. 05:00 Do you love God more than anything? 05:07 Do you love God? 05:13 Do you love God more than anything? 05:19 Do you love my God? 05:26 Love is all that He asks in return 05:34 for all that He has given. 05:40 Love will be the endless theme 05:47 throughout the course of heaven. 05:54 Do you love God more than your car or home? 06:00 Do you love God? 06:06 Do you love God more than all you own? 06:13 Do you love my God? 06:19 Tell me, do you love God more than your family? 06:26 Really, really, really love Him? 06:30 If you do, just let the whole world know. 06:37 That's all He asks of you. 06:46 Do you love God more than your car or home? 06:53 Do you love God? 06:59 And do you love God more than all you own? 07:06 Do you love God? 07:11 Tell me, do you love God more than your family? 07:19 Really, really, really love Him? 07:23 If you do, just let the whole world know 07:30 that you love the Lord. 07:32 Come on, let the whole world know, let them know, 07:36 that you love the Lord. 07:39 Let the whole world know, 07:46 let the whole world know, 07:52 let the whole world know. 07:59 That's all He asks 08:08 of you. 08:23 Hmmm, thank you, C.A. 08:26 What an appropriate song for the message this afternoon. 08:29 I'm glad you stayed by. 08:31 This is the meeting after lunch. 08:34 And I think some of you know what that means. 08:37 I'm a little at a distance from you, so it won't be that easy 08:41 for me to pay attention to the glazed over look 08:44 in some of your eyes as your lasagna tries to interfere 08:48 with our purpose just now. 08:50 So I want to encourage you to put forth extra special effort, 08:55 if necessary correct your posture, 08:58 take a few deep breaths, as we launch in to God's Word. 09:02 You need your frontal lobe to be engaged just now. 09:06 Alright? 09:07 This morning, Danny asked me to share about an exciting 09:12 new set of Bible studies. 09:14 And some of you, you said it just went by too fast. 09:17 You didn't get where they could be obtained, 09:21 what it's about. 09:22 Let me just briefly repeat. 09:23 This is a brand new set of Bible studies, 09:25 27 Bible studies in the series, called, Truth Link. 09:30 They are a very unique resource that I think will just 09:34 absolutely blow your mind and take your heart 09:38 in your relationship with Jesus to a whole new level, 09:41 and give you a tool to share the message 09:45 with absolute biblical doctrinal integrity. 09:49 Simultaneously, the love of God and the gospel of Christ 09:54 woven in to every single biblical doctrine. 09:58 So get a set of these Bible studies and begin 10:00 making use of them, not only for your own 10:03 personal spiritual growth and edification, 10:06 but also to have on hand something to study 10:10 with family and friends. 10:12 So they're available at, lightbearers.org. 10:17 Lightbearers, the name of the ministry I represent,.org. 10:21 You can also go to that website and just get the phone number 10:24 from there and call and order them on any day of the week. 10:28 Alright, so I'm excite about our subject right now. 10:32 And in order to access the concepts that we want to 10:36 begin developing regarding the law of God, 10:39 in this our final session on the subject, 10:43 I want to explore with you, ask you to explore with me, 10:45 something that we all experience. 10:50 Have you noticed that we tend to cringe when we witness 10:56 pain or suffering of just about any kind? 11:01 Have you noticed that? 11:02 Just today earlier somebody was sharing with me 11:07 from their heart and they began talking about the breakdown 11:13 in a relationship between a mother and a daughter. 11:17 And as he was describing to me the disintegration of 11:21 that relationship, I noticed that his eyes were tearing up. 11:27 And as he continued describing the breakdown of the 11:30 relationship, I could just feel the stab of that pain 11:35 in my own heart, and I felt my eyes beginning to tear up. 11:39 Almost involuntarily. 11:42 Just last week a woman came to me, somebody I know, 11:45 and I've known her for some time. 11:48 And she walked up and rather abruptly said, 11:52 "Ty, my husband just informed me that he's seeing another woman." 12:00 And immediately, boom, the pain was there. 12:03 It was residual pain for me. 12:05 It wasn't even my experience. 12:07 But I could empathize, I could feel the pain 12:12 that was throbbing in her heart. 12:15 Even pain on what might be regarded as a lesser level 12:22 is difficult for us to witness as human beings. 12:25 I'm driving down the road just, I don't know, a few months ago 12:28 and I'm doing, I don't know, 50 or 60 miles an hour. 12:32 And as I'm driving along, suddenly I see out of the 12:36 corner of my eye, here comes a rabbit. 12:41 And everything in me, I'm willing to risk my life 12:45 and run into trees and hit mountain sides 12:49 to avoid the bunny. 12:52 Because everything in me is against the pain, the suffering, 13:00 the death that might be inflicted on a creature 13:05 of nature. 13:07 Now it is possible, and often is the case, 13:11 that we as human beings can become jaded. 13:15 We can become insensitive. 13:18 And insensitivity can move into being not just 13:24 insensitive, but literally callus and hard and cold. 13:29 Where we can begin to hear about and witness 13:33 relational breakdown and suffering and pain 13:36 and it means nothing to us. 13:37 We don't feel anything. 13:40 And then when you get past the point of just being insensitive, 13:43 a human being can be brought to the place where they 13:47 feel no pain or empathy at all. 13:50 And that's called, psychopathy. 13:54 That's when a human being gets to the place 13:56 where they have no emotional response 14:00 to the suffering and pain of others. 14:05 Now I bring all of this to our attention 14:09 to direct you to one of what I would regard to be 14:14 one of the most important biblical perspectives 14:18 on the law of God, and one that I think 14:22 many of us might find to be a totally new idea. 14:26 We know lots of Bible verses about the law. 14:28 And I would venture to say that when we turn to this one, 14:32 you'll say, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, I've read that." 14:34 But almost none of us have read the second half of the verse, 14:39 or at least allowed it to register. 14:41 Go to this verse in Romans chapter 13. 14:45 Go to Romans 13. 14:46 Just an amazing text from which I have drawn the 14:50 title of this message. 14:52 Notice this text, it's about the law of God. 14:55 But we're going to unpack and explore a dimension, 15:00 an aspect, of the law of God that is rarely ever considered. 15:04 Alright, this is Romans chapter 13 15:09 and verse 10. 15:13 Notice the language. 15:14 "Love does no..." What? 15:20 "...no harm to a neighbor; therefore..." 15:24 Notice the grammatical flow. 15:26 Notice the connection. 15:28 "Love does no harm to a neighbor; therefore 15:34 love is the fulfillment..." 15:37 The fulfilling of what? 15:39 "...the law." 15:40 Here, the apostle Paul is informing us that God's law 15:47 is a realm of existence, if you will, a set of parameters 15:57 within which there is no harm. 16:02 One version says, "Love does no hurt 16:06 to its neighbor, therefore, love is the fulfilling of the law." 16:11 Within the parameters of God's law, there is an 16:15 absence of harm, there's an absence of hurt. 16:20 Now in our first presentation, we explored what we called, 16:25 The Law Before the Law. 16:27 And we essentially tried to point out that God's law 16:32 is not an arbitrary set of rules that He concocted willy-nilly 16:37 out of nowhere. 16:39 And I posed the question to you, could God have come up 16:42 with another ten other than the Ten Commandments? 16:45 Could He have just said, "You know what, not these ten. 16:48 But I'll come up with another totally different ten. 16:51 Move that pile of rocks twice a day; 16:54 commandment number one. 16:55 Commandment number two; every day look up, down, 16:59 to your left, to your right. 17:00 And then do it again four times. 17:02 Commandment number three..." 17:04 Those would be arbitrary commands that have no 17:06 grounding in relational existence, 17:10 no grounding in reality. 17:12 In other words, God's law is not an arbitrary list 17:16 of externally imposed rules. 17:19 It is in fact, the law of God is in fact a transcript of the very 17:24 character of God. 17:25 It is the essence of God's own identity. 17:30 The law of God describes for us how God thinks, 17:34 and feels, and behaves toward all others. 17:39 It's not arbitrary. 17:40 It's intrinsic to the very nature of God. 17:45 Do you see what I'm saying? 17:47 So this helps us to understand that the law of God 17:53 is basically a description of what relational integrity 17:59 looks like. 18:00 The Bible uses another word to describe this. 18:03 And that word is, covenant. 18:05 I'll leave this for you to study in your own time. 18:09 Look in Scripture at the usage of the word, covenant, 18:14 and you will discover that over and over again 18:18 the Ten Commandment law of God is called, 18:21 a covenant. 18:22 Now a covenant is simply a word that describes 18:26 what a relationship looks like when it's mutual. 18:31 A covenant is when I live for you, and you live for me. 18:39 It is the perfect arrangement for all relationships. 18:43 I live for you, and I don't say, "Wow, I really like the..." 18:48 Or you don't say, "I really like the fact 18:50 that he's living for me. 18:52 I think I'll live for me too. 18:54 This is a great arrangement. 18:55 How about everybody live for me." 18:58 That's not a covenant. 19:00 The covenant occurs when I live for you, and you reciprocate. 19:06 This is what Jesus is describing. 19:08 He gets to the heart of it. 19:10 This is what Jesus is describing in Luke 6:38. 19:12 One of the best verses in all the Bible. 19:14 This should be something you know like your phone number, 19:17 or your social security number, or your wife's birthday. 19:22 This verse, Jesus describes the whole deal. 19:26 He says, "Give, and it shall be given to you. 19:33 Pressed down, shaken together, and running over 19:37 shall others give into your bosom," or into your life. 19:41 In other words, in the process of living for others, 19:46 Jesus is saying it starts a chain reaction. 19:50 There's a reciprocation that occurs. 19:52 There's a cause and there's an effect. 19:54 You also find this principle in 1 John 4:19 19:58 where the gospel is encapsulated in this simple statement, 20:02 "We love God because He first loved us." 20:06 In other words, in that text there are two usages 20:09 of the word, love. 20:11 There is God's love that is primary and active 20:14 toward me regardless of my condition. 20:17 It doesn't matter if I'm doing good, bad, or otherwise, 20:20 God's love is a constant, covenantal, faithfulness to me. 20:25 The Bible says in another place that if we are unfaithful, 20:30 God is or remains faithful, because He cannot deny Himself. 20:36 In other words, God cannot go contrary to who He is. 20:40 He can't be other than what He is. 20:42 And what is He? He's faithful. 20:44 Whether I am or not, whether I am or not. 20:47 And that faithful love then initiates a response in me. 20:53 One author says, "Love begets love." 20:57 In other words, God's love is a creative force. 21:00 It produces after its own kind. 21:05 And so the apostle Paul says, "Love does no harm 21:13 to its neighbor." 21:14 In other words, there is an absence of relational violation 21:21 where love is occurring. 21:23 Love is not a silly sentimental cotton candy sweet kind of 21:28 sentimentalism. 21:29 It's not just a warm fuzzy feeling. 21:33 Love is a powerful principle. 21:37 It is a force to be reckoned with. 21:42 And the force to be reckoned with in the love of God 21:46 is that He will be good and faithful to you and me 21:50 no matter what we do to Him. 21:52 And that's why we see God's love reaching its pinnacle expression 21:56 at Calvary. 21:58 John chapter 13 verse 1, as Jesus is coming to the 22:02 end of His ministry, this is such a powerful line, 22:06 He's coming to the end of His ministry. 22:07 He's about to wash the disciples feet. 22:09 He's about to celebrate the Passover with them. 22:11 He's about to go to Calvary. 22:13 And John 13:1 says, "...having loved His own 22:18 who were in the world, He loved them to the end." 22:23 He loved them to the end. 22:25 That is to say, He loved them to the end of Himself. 22:30 When Jesus died at the cross, Jesus perfected, personified, 22:35 revealed, and put on living display the love of God 22:39 in its most beautiful possible expression. 22:44 He loved all others above and before Himself. 22:48 And He wasn't feeling super sentimentally or emotionally 22:54 high while He was hanging on the cross. 22:57 He was experiencing excruciating pain 23:01 and the pain of self denial to keep loving, loving, loving 23:06 you and me above Himself to the Nth degree of self-sacrifice. 23:11 That's what love looks like in action. 23:13 Now for you and me, God envelopes us with this love. 23:19 Again to quote an author that really gets this. 23:25 We're surrounded with an atmosphere of grace, 23:28 the whole human race, 23:29 we're surrounded with an atmosphere of grace 23:32 as real as the air we breathe. 23:35 In other words, whether you turn to the left or to the right, 23:38 up or down, any direction you look within the parameters 23:42 of the gospel, you realize that, to use the language of John 23:47 in John chapter 1, God has heaped upon us 23:50 grace upon grace. 23:54 He's always good, no matter what. 23:57 And the only question is, do we see it? 24:00 And once we see it and it really rivets our attention, 24:04 we begin to voluntarily of our own free will, 24:07 spontaneously we begin to return to Him 24:10 from the inside out. 24:12 It's not merely an outward demand or compliance 24:17 that God's looking for. 24:19 He's not looking for robots or machines or slaves. 24:22 He's looking for living, volitional, emotional, 24:26 rational friends. 24:30 He's looking for people who will know Him 24:33 in the interior of His heart and like what they see, 24:38 and reciprocate and love Him back. 24:42 So here we have Paul telling us, "Do you want to know what 24:48 the law is all about?" Paul says. 24:51 It's about no harm. 24:53 It's about relational integrity. 24:55 When a man comes to me and he says, 24:59 "I just can't sustain this marriage. 25:03 I'm going to leave. 25:04 I don't love her anymore. 25:07 I don't love her anymore." 25:10 What he's describing is the breakdown 25:16 of what the Bible calls, love. 25:18 Relational disintegration is occurring. 25:21 And essentially what he's saying is that he refuses 25:24 to continue to keep his vow. 25:26 He refuses to be faithful. 25:29 When the Bible says, "God is love," 25:32 it doesn't simply mean that God has warm sentimental 25:36 feelings toward you. 25:38 It means God is faithful to you. 25:41 God will follow through. 25:42 If you want to summarize the whole Bible, 25:44 here it is, here's the Bible. 25:47 There's the Old Testament and the New Testament; here it is. 25:49 The Old Testament is a promise made, 25:52 and the New Testament is a promise kept. 25:55 That's what it is. 25:56 That's why it's called the old covenant, or testament, 26:00 and the new covenant. 26:01 It's God saying, "I love you. I'll keep loving you. 26:05 And I will give My Son." 26:07 And the whole testament is one Messianic 26:09 prophecy after another. 26:11 Jesus is coming. 26:12 "I will give Him as a covenant to the people," 26:16 the Old Testament says. 26:17 Jesus will come and He will fulfill the covenant. 26:22 He will confirm the covenant with many for one week. 26:25 And in the midst of the week He will be cut off. 26:28 He will go to Calvary to ratify relational faithfulness. 26:33 That's Daniel chapter 9. 26:35 So the whole Bible is God saying, "I love you. 26:39 And I'll prove it." 26:40 And the New Testament is, in Jesus Christ, God proving it. 26:44 God following through to keep covenant with you and me 26:48 regardless of our unfaithfulness. 26:50 The love of God is nothing less than relational faithfulness. 26:57 It is faithfulness at any cost to one's self. 27:04 And so this "no harm" idea, let's unpack it further. 27:07 What in the world does Paul mean when he says there's 27:12 no harm done when love is being exercised? 27:17 When love is in play, there's no harm. 27:20 That means that in any given relationship, 27:24 I am, you are, God is, whoever the participants are, 27:28 in any given relationship the individuals are 27:30 choosing what is best and right for the other, 27:35 for the other, first and foremost above self. 27:40 So there's no violation occurring. 27:44 Now God has chosen to create human beings to operate 27:50 in precisely this manner. 27:52 I want you to look with me at Genesis real quick. 27:54 We're going to do a little tour de force here 27:57 of the Bible. 27:59 And we're going to begin at the beginning with Genesis. 28:01 I want you to notice something here, a pattern 28:04 in Genesis chapters 1 and 2. 28:07 For the sake of time, I'm just going to tell you some things 28:10 you already know, and then focus on some parts that 28:12 we need to have really emphasized for us 28:15 and brought to our attention. 28:18 Each day of creation, watch this, God comes to the end 28:22 of that particular segment of what He made, 28:25 and He says, "It's good." 28:26 Right? You know this part. 28:28 It's good. 28:29 Comes to the end of the second day, 28:30 He looks at everything He made and He says, "It's good." 28:33 Third day; it's good. 28:35 Fourth day; it's good. Fifth day; good. 28:37 End of the sixth day God says something, He modifies 28:40 His declaration. 28:41 He says, "Behold, now it is very good." 28:46 Now the difference between, "good," and, "very good," 28:48 in the development of the narrative is that 28:52 "good" is descriptive of the constituent parts of creation 28:58 under development. 29:00 In other words, good for what it is on that day at that level 29:04 at that stage of the creation venture. 29:07 Okay? 29:08 The difference between, "good," and, "very good," 29:11 is creation in process... 29:13 "Yep, that's good. Good, good, good." 29:15 ...and creation complete. 29:18 Now what makes creation complete? 29:21 The creation of the man and the woman 29:24 on the latter part of the sixth day. 29:27 Once the man and the woman are created, 29:30 they are placed, as it were, in this incredible 29:35 material environment that surrounds them. 29:38 And it says in chapter 2 that God put them in a garden. 29:45 And God actually gave the garden a name. 29:48 He gave the garden a name. 29:49 He said the garden that He put them in would be called, 29:52 chapter 2 verse 8, Eden. 29:56 Now develop this with me. 29:58 When we read the word, "Eden," we think, "Oh that's just 30:03 the name that God came up with for the garden." 30:07 And it is the name that God came up with. 30:09 But it's not just a collection of letters to create a certain 30:14 phonetic sound. 30:16 Every name in the Bible means something. 30:21 It all has definition. 30:22 Whether it's the name of a person 30:24 or it's the name of a place. 30:27 Every place and thing and person is named according to 30:34 its function, according to its intrinsic value, 30:39 what it's for, what it does. 30:41 The word, "Eden," isn't just a nice name 30:45 to refer to a place. 30:47 It literally has a meaning. 30:49 Eden is the Hebrew word for pleasure. 30:54 So literally, here's what we see taking place. 30:57 God creates this incredible material environment. 31:02 Okay, He creates landscapes. 31:06 He creates a profusion of colors; 31:10 from the flowers and the trees and the skyline. 31:13 He creates flowing brooks with gentle water that fills the ear. 31:20 He fills the sky with birds. 31:24 And He says, "You know what? 31:25 Not only are these going to be visually beautiful, 31:29 I'm going to make them sing." 31:30 And so God creates birds that sing. 31:33 They fill the sky with their visual beauty 31:38 and the beauty of the song that they sing. 31:42 God surrounds the man and the woman with what? 31:47 With beauty of every kind. 31:48 He says, "I'm going to create tasty stuff for you to eat." 31:52 So He creates various different trees that bear fruit. 31:56 They're not all the same. 31:58 They're different. 32:00 This one tastes like that and the other like something else. 32:04 And these flavors are engineered by God to just dance 32:08 all over their taste buds so that with every bite 32:11 there's delight. 32:13 This is all intentional. 32:15 This is telling us something about the character of God. 32:18 God could have said, "I'm going to create the man and 32:21 the woman, and I'm going to have one tree. 32:24 And it's going to have a tube hanging from it. 32:27 And every day for one hour I'll have them hook up 32:29 to an IV machine and get some nourishment." 32:33 He could have said, "No, I'll have one tree. 32:35 And the fruit will be brown in color and it will 32:39 taste like cardboard." 32:42 No. 32:43 God, out of the beauty and abundance of His creativity, 32:48 says, "I'm going to create lots of different trees. 32:50 And man oh man, they're going to taste good. 32:53 They're going to love this stuff." 32:55 This is the kind of God we're dealing with. 32:58 He surrounds them with visual beauty, 33:01 auditory beauty, flavors. 33:07 He creates them and puts them in the garden of pleasure, 33:12 the garden of pleasure. 33:13 Now here we are post fall in the world in which we live. 33:19 And it's natural for us as believers in Christ 33:24 to sometimes have a negative view of the word 33:27 or the concept of pleasure. 33:29 But biblically speaking, pleasure is the invention 33:35 of Almighty God. 33:36 God is the author of pleasure. 33:40 God is the one who created the human machine, if you will, 33:44 this thing that we are, to intellectually 33:47 enjoy the process of problem solving. 33:52 To scientifically investigate the mysteries of the universe 33:55 and just be delighted to discover new things. 33:58 God is the one that created the emotional component 34:03 in the human being. 34:05 To walk up and to develop a relationship with somebody 34:09 and have them look back into your eyes, 34:11 and you get the feeling that, 34:13 "Wow, I like you and you like me," 34:15 and that feeling of emotional satisfaction. 34:18 God's the author of that. 34:20 God is the one who created the body with its ability 34:25 to feel pleasure. 34:27 God is the one who said, "Not only am I going to create a man, 34:31 I'm going to create a man and a woman. 34:33 And I'm going to let them fall in love 34:36 and enjoy one another's friendship." 34:39 God's the author of all of this. 34:41 Now having created this kind of environment, 34:44 this kind of world, this garden of pleasure, 34:47 God put the man and the woman there. 34:49 And He basically said, "Hey, have a great time. 34:54 Be fruitful, multiply, and expand the garden 34:57 to encompass the whole earth." 35:00 Steward all of this beauty in such a way that the 35:04 garden of pleasure grows to take in the whole planet. 35:08 And multiply. 35:09 Procreate all kinds of other human beings 35:12 who themselves will join in all the fun of existence. 35:17 This is God. 35:20 Now, having created that kind of environment and that kind of 35:26 world, sin enters the picture in chapter 3. 35:32 But I want you to notice now a contrast. 35:35 Because this is the first time that we encounter 35:38 the principle of God's law and what sin is by contrast. 35:45 Again, this is the first time we encounter in Scripture 35:48 the principle of God's law. 35:50 I say, the principle of God's law, because we don't 35:52 find in Genesis 1 and 2 the Ten Commandments; 35:55 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10; 35:56 "Thou shalt..." "Thou shalt not..." 35:58 We don't find that in Genesis 1 and 2. 35:59 But we find the essence of the law in Genesis 1 and 2 36:06 in that God created the man and the woman 36:08 to live in relational integrity. 36:12 Each one living wholly for the other, 36:15 and both of them living for God, and God living for them. 36:19 That's the law of God, in essence. 36:21 It's right there in principle. 36:23 Now God did something very interesting 36:26 when He created this environment. 36:27 Chapter 2, notice carefully verse 16. 36:33 "And the Lord God commanded the man, saying..." 36:37 Notice the language. 36:38 "Of every tree of the garden..." 36:42 What are the next three words? 36:44 "...you may freely..." 36:47 "...you may..." "...you may..." 36:51 "...you may freely eat..." 36:55 Okay, grammatically, as God is speaking, He is formulating 37:01 a positive grammatical structure. 37:05 He's telling them what they may do. 37:08 And it's a vast horizon of freedom. 37:11 He says, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat." 37:15 But then notice verse 17. 37:18 "But," qualification, "of the tree of the knowledge of 37:21 good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat 37:27 of it you will surely die." 37:28 Notice this. 37:30 God presents a huge, a vast horizon of liberty and freedom. 37:37 "Of every tree you may freely eat. 37:40 But not this one." 37:43 And the one qualification embedded in God's language 37:49 is a protective language. 37:53 "Because I don't want you to be hurt. 37:56 I don't want you to die." 37:59 Now two things we need to see here from the get go. 38:02 Number one, the Scripture does not say, 38:06 "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat; 38:08 but not this one, because if you do I'll kill you." 38:11 It doesn't say, "Don't eat of that one or I'll kill you." 38:16 It's not, "Don't, or I'll kill you." 38:18 It's, "Don't, or you'll die." 38:21 God is describing the nature of reality 38:25 as God created reality to function. 38:28 He's describing a state of affairs in which 38:33 relational breakdown, relational violation, 38:38 causes pain and hurt and disintegration. 38:43 He's not giving a threat. 38:45 He's describing the cause and effect relationship 38:49 that is involved in either love or selfishness. 38:54 It's very interesting though, because when the devil 38:58 comes to tempt the man and the woman, 39:01 beginning with the woman, notice chapter 3 verse 1. 39:04 And you will immediately... This is just going to click on. 39:06 The lights are going to come shining. 39:08 If your lasagna can get out of the way, 39:10 you're about to realize something very profound. 39:13 Notice chapter 3 verse 1. 39:15 "Now the serpent was more cunning..." 39:18 Notice, "cunning." 39:20 Another version says, "subtle." 39:23 He's coming with an intent to what? 39:26 To deceive. 39:27 He's not coming with truth. 39:29 He's coming with a skewed view of things. 39:35 "Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast 39:38 of the field which the Lord God had made. 39:39 And he said..." 39:41 And what are you going to expect out of this guys mouth? 39:44 Some kind of tweak. 39:47 Some kind of... 39:49 He's going to twist it. 39:52 "And he said to the woman, 'Has God indeed said, 39:56 "You shall not eat of every tree of the garden."'" 40:02 Do you hear the difference? 40:05 Do you catch the subtlety? 40:07 Notice that God presented the matter as big freedom, 40:14 minor restriction, for your good. 40:18 The devil comes along and he flips it, and he presents 40:22 vast restriction. 40:25 And he doesn't even mention any freedom. 40:28 He essentially says, "Has God told you that you can't eat 40:32 of everything?" 40:33 He's trying to arouse in humanity a sense of restriction. 40:39 "You can't..." 40:41 Notice, if you compare verse 16 of chapter 2, 40:44 underline or circle, if you do that in your Bible, 40:47 or take notes. 40:49 God says, "You may." 40:52 Circle the words, "You may." 40:54 The devil, down in chapter 3 verse 1, says, "You shall not." 41:00 This is the difference between the biblical true view of 41:06 God's law and the demonic tweaking of God's law. 41:14 God is not a God of, He's not primarily, 41:18 He is not fundamentally a God of restriction. 41:20 He's a God of pleasure and liberty. 41:22 In fact, the New Testament calls God's law a 41:25 perfect law of liberty. 41:26 It's all about freedom, it's not about restriction. 41:30 And the only thing that God ever forbids 41:34 it that which would hurt us, that which would bring harm, 41:39 that which would break down the quality of our lives 41:43 and our capacity for pleasure and enjoyment in life. 41:49 Look now with me, if you don't mind, go quickly 41:53 over to Deuteronomy chapter 5. 41:57 And notice how God frames His law in chapter 5 of Deuteronomy. 42:02 You're going to love this. 42:03 This is just so important to understand 42:06 when we're dealing with the law of God. 42:08 And that's what this five part series is about. 42:11 Deuteronomy chapter 5 verse 29. 42:14 This should be foremost in our notes regarding the law of God. 42:20 And this is in quote marks in mine. 42:22 I'm using the New King James Version. 42:23 So Moses is literally quoting the Lord. 42:26 This is God talking directly. 42:28 And God says, verse 29, "Oh, that they had such a..." What? 42:35 "...such a heart in them that they would fear Me..." 42:39 That is, "with awe, reverence, and really understand 42:42 who I am to them." 42:44 "...that they would fear Me and always keep 42:48 My commandments..." Comma. 42:51 And what follows is brilliant. 42:54 God doesn't say, "Oh, that they would always 42:58 keep My commandments. 42:59 Because I'm God and they're not. 43:01 And by golly, they better do what I say." 43:04 It's not God framing our existence in terms of 43:09 restrictions for restrictions sake. 43:12 Do you hear my words? 43:13 He's not restrictive for restrictions sake. 43:18 No. 43:19 Here, God is saying, "Oh, I wish that they had a heart in them 43:25 that would keep all My commandments. 43:27 Not because I'm a micro-managing control freak." 43:31 Do you see the words after the comma? 43:35 "...that it might be well with them 43:40 and with their children forever." 43:44 What is God describing here? 43:46 God is saying, "Oh, how I wish that they had a heart in them." 43:52 Not just behavioral compliance. 43:54 Where is God trying to get? 43:56 Into our hearts. 43:58 "Oh that they had a heart in them to keep 44:00 all My commandments." 44:02 Why? What's God's motive? 44:04 "So that things would go really well for them, 44:07 and for their children. 44:09 Forever." 44:10 In other words, God is describing in the word, 44:13 "forever," the only way that life is ultimately sustainable. 44:19 With joy and pleasure and happiness. 44:21 Within the parameters of God's law there is vast freedom. 44:26 Let me give a simple example. 44:28 Our popular culture is obsessed with sexuality, 44:32 if you haven't noticed. 44:34 Billboards, magazines, television shows, music. 44:37 We live in a society that is just saturated 44:41 with smutty sexuality. 44:44 Now watch this. 44:45 The impression that's out there is that God's ways 44:50 with regards to sexuality are restrictive. 44:55 God says, "You shall not commit adultery." 44:58 And the world tilts their head and crosses their arms 45:02 and says, "Wow, that is so narrow minded. 45:08 Is God a party pooper or what?" 45:11 But here's the truth of the matter. 45:13 Listen to this. 45:14 When God says, "Here are the parameters for sexuality," 45:22 right, do you know what He's actually doing? 45:25 He's describing the parameters within which 45:31 great freedom can occur. 45:35 Because within a monogamous relationship for life 45:40 between one man and one woman... 45:42 Watch this. Here's what happens. 45:44 When a man and a woman mutually commit to one another, 45:48 they'll have some hard times. 45:49 After all, we're sinners. 45:51 We're messed from the word, go. 45:52 Look in the mirror, you're dysfunctional. 45:55 The fact is, that if God were to back up one little baby step 45:59 from you and me, you would lose it, and so would I. 46:02 We are one step away from insanity at any given moment. 46:06 But for the grace of God, there go I, there go you. 46:10 But when two people come together and they 46:11 make a commitment, here's what happens. 46:14 The commitment itself, that is, the relational faithfulness... 46:19 That's what we're talking about here. 46:21 That commitment itself will be tried. 46:23 But if they continue to be committed to one another, 46:26 and at the point of stress don't give up, 46:30 there are levels of trust and security right around 46:36 the corner that would never be possible 46:39 if you throw in the towel at the two year point 46:43 or the three year point or the seven year point 46:46 where you just can't stand him anymore. 46:49 Well, if you keep working through it... 46:53 And there are exceptions of abuse and just on going 46:58 terrible, terrible treatment. 46:59 There is the exception of adultery. 47:02 But even that is a question that we could explore further. 47:05 But listen carefully to me. 47:07 People who give up in a relationship 47:11 never know what it's like to have the level of security 47:16 and trust and relational bliss that is only for those 47:22 who stay committed to one another for life. 47:24 Verses those who enter into one relationship, 47:27 and when it gets tough they give up and they move on. 47:29 And they have another relationship, 47:30 and it gets tough and they give up. 47:32 And they're called, serial daters. 47:34 I don't know what it has to do with cereal. 47:35 No, that's serial with an "s". 47:37 Okay, so they get together and they break up, 47:40 and get together and break up, and get together and break up. 47:41 And what are they never, ever, ever, ever experiencing 47:44 psychologically, emotionally, relationally? 47:47 Where do they never go? 47:49 They never go to the point where they bond 47:53 at the deepest possible level where you know security 47:56 and trust in ways that you never thought possible. 48:01 So when God says, "Here are the parameters for sexuality," 48:05 He's not trying to make life hard and miserable. 48:08 He's saying, "No, no, no, no. Listen to Me, listen to Me. 48:12 Faithful committed love will pay dividends." 48:19 There is nothing more beautiful, this couple that I met 48:22 not long ago, there's nothing more... 48:24 This man, this woman, they have been married 48:26 approximately forever. 48:29 These guys are so old, I have never seen in close proximity 48:33 people this old before. 48:34 These people informed me, this man and woman, 48:38 that they had been married, married for 60 years. 48:42 If you can even imagine that. 48:45 And this brother is still holding her hand. 48:47 And I'll tell you what. 48:48 One of the most beautiful things you will ever witness 48:50 is elderly people who are still head over heels 48:54 in love with one another. 48:55 And if you will ask and you will explore, you will find out 48:57 they had some hard times. 48:59 Most men are jerks and need to be educated 49:03 by their wife in order to overcome some things 49:07 that are embedded in malehood. 49:09 And if she's patient, and if he is able to be taught, 49:15 it's amazing the beauty that develops as they age together. 49:20 Now nobody has that outside the parameters of God's law. 49:24 When God says, "This is My will for you," He's saying, 49:28 "It's so that it will go well for you. 49:30 I want things to go really great for you. 49:32 That's My goal for you." 49:34 This is one of my favorite verses on the law of God, 49:37 go to Psalm 119. 49:39 This is going to, this is just going to take it 49:41 to a whole new level. 49:43 Look at Psalm 119, and wow, verse 32. 49:51 Astounding. 49:53 Don't forget this one. 49:55 If you forget all the others that we've explored, 49:57 don't miss Psalm 119 and verse 32. 50:02 Look at this, wow. 50:04 Okay, I'm going to begin with the New King James Version. 50:08 Alright, here's what it says in the New King James Version. 50:12 David is contemplating God's law, and he says, 50:15 "I will run in the course of Your commandments, 50:22 for You have enlarged my heart." 50:26 Do you like that language? 50:28 "I will run in the course of Your commandments, 50:32 because You have enlarged my heart." 50:34 Let's just unpack that for a minute. 50:36 Think this through carefully. 50:38 If you were in a room that is ten feet by ten feet, 50:41 or even twelve by twelve, or even fourteen by fourteen, 50:46 can you run? 50:49 No, you can't run. 50:51 Even if there's no furniture. 50:52 Go against the back wall, and right over there is the 50:55 next wall ten feet ahead, twelve feet ahead. 50:58 Just go ahead, just sprint. 51:01 Boom, you're going to hit the wall. 51:03 You can't work up momentum. 51:05 You can't get your legs moving underneath you. 51:08 You can't run in a restricted area. 51:13 You have to have space in which to run. 51:16 Am I right? Yeah. 51:18 So David says here, this is remarkable, 51:22 He says, "I will run in the course of Your commandments." 51:27 David perceives the commandments of God as a large horizon 51:33 of freedom, not a restricted small area to deal in. 51:40 It's big, God's law. 51:44 When God says, "You shall not bear false witness 51:47 against your neighbor," you know what He's doing? 51:50 He's saying, "If you always tell the truth 51:52 and you deal with integrity with everyone around you, 51:57 that will open them up relationally to you, 52:00 and your parameters for trust will expand. 52:06 If you'll do business that way." 52:09 Stephen Covey, the late Stephen Covey who wrote one of the 52:14 best selling business books of all time, 52:16 The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, 52:18 one of the seven habits is what he calls, the win-win principle. 52:23 He basically says... 52:24 I don't know if he knows he's tapping into 52:26 Scripture on this or not. 52:28 I don't know what he was thinking. 52:29 But he basically says, every single business deal 52:33 that you conduct in life should be a win-win situation. 52:37 A win for you, but you deliberately make sure 52:41 the other person wins too. 52:44 Don't ever take advantage of anybody. 52:46 Don't ever cut a deal where there is a lack of integrity. 52:52 And you know what he goes on to describe? 52:55 Your business will boom. 52:57 It will expand. 52:58 People will want to do business with you. 53:01 Because they know that you will not violate them relationally. 53:05 They will know that you're the kind of person 53:07 who has their best interest at heart. 53:10 Isn't that amazing? 53:12 So God's law is this huge vast expansive horizon of liberty 53:20 that involves security and trust and fidelity 53:23 and loyalty in relationships. 53:26 You know how your life ends up restricted and small? 53:30 By violating people. 53:33 One after another they will back up from you. 53:38 And sin always incrementally leads to isolation. 53:44 People pull back from people who violate them. 53:48 And you do it as well. 53:51 There's restriction in sin. 53:53 There is freedom in God's love, in God's law. 53:58 He says, "I will run in the course of Your commandments." 54:01 And this is amazing, he says, 54:03 "For You shall enlarge my heart." 54:06 Isn't that something? 54:08 How many of you want to have a larger heart? 54:09 I was in an airport recently. 54:11 Because I'm always recently in an airport. 54:13 And while I was there, I saw a man speaking very 54:19 disrespectfully to what appeared to have been his wife. 54:23 Just right in public being rude and mean to her. 54:28 And then I noticed a little boy with his mom. 54:31 And they were completely unrelated. 54:33 But the little boy was just watching, 54:35 and I'm over here on this side. 54:36 So there's me, there's the mom and little boy, 54:38 and then there's this going on. 54:40 And the little boy says to his mom, 54:43 "Mommy, I think he needs to get a bigger heart." 54:50 What does it mean when God says that within His law 54:55 He will enlarge our hearts? 54:58 We began our time together in this particular message 55:03 by pointing out that we cringe at pain and suffering 55:07 and relational breakdown. 55:10 But we also pointed out that if you continue doing 55:14 those things that violate others in order to 55:17 justify self, we put up all kinds of psychological 55:22 survival mechanisms to shield ourselves from our own guilt. 55:25 And we become increasingly insensitive. 55:30 Part of the new covenant, part of the writing of 55:33 God's law in the deep interior of our hearts and minds, 55:38 it that it makes us sensitive again. 55:41 The stony heart is replaced with a heart of flesh. 55:47 We become sensitive again. 55:49 Empathy begins to develop. 55:52 We begin to feel what other people feel 55:57 within God's law. 56:00 I want you to imagine, in closing, a society, 56:05 a city maybe the size of St. Louis, in which 56:10 every husband and wife are head over heels in love, 56:16 and enjoy one another's company. 56:19 A city in which every parent/child relationship 56:23 is one in which the parents and the children 56:28 enjoy one another and never violate one another. 56:32 A society in which nobody ever lies, or steals, 56:37 or even wants anybody else's stuff. 56:39 "That's you stuff. Cool. 56:41 I'm happy with my stuff, perfectly contend with my stuff. 56:44 Don't want your stuff." 56:46 Imagine a society like that. 56:50 And ask yourself the question, "Would I want to live there?" 56:53 And of course, anybody in their right mind would say, 56:55 "Yeah, bring it on." 56:57 But what the world doesn't realize is, 56:58 all we've just described is the law of God 57:05 in action in a human society. 57:09 Is it any wonder that the Bible says 57:12 that, "The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul." 57:17 It's a good law. 57:19 And it's a law in which there is no harm. 57:23 Would you pray with me. 57:24 Father in heaven, thank You for loving us the way You do. |
Revised 2015-10-13