Participants:
Series Code: IIW
Program Code: IIW201606A
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00:00 IIW-2016-6 --- TJF-GOD'S ANSWER TO TURMOIL
00:05 IIW-2016-6 --- TJF-GOD'S ANSWER TO TURMOIL 00:10 IIW-2016-6 --- TJF-GOD'S ANSWER TO TURMOIL 00:15 IIW-2016-6 --- TJF-GOD'S ANSWER TO TURMOIL 00:20 IIW-2016-6 --- TJF-GOD'S ANSWER TO TURMOIL 00:25 IIW-2016-6 --- TJF-GOD'S ANSWER TO TURMOIL 00:31 IIW-2016-6 --- TJF-GOD'S ANSWER TO TURMOIL 00:37 IIW-2016-6 --- TJF-GOD'S ANSWER TO TURMOIL 00:41 IIW-2016-6 --- TJF-GOD'S ANSWER TO TURMOIL 00:45 IIW-2016-6 --- TJF-GOD'S ANSWER TO TURMOIL 00:50 IIW-2016-6 --- TJF-GOD'S ANSWER TO TURMOIL 01:31 >>Announcer: It has stood the test of time. 01:35 God's book, The Bible 01:38 Still relevant in today's complex world 01:44 It Is Written 01:46 Sharing messages of hope around the world! 01:58 Joey Prusak was a 19 year old, working at Dairy Queen to make a few extra dollars. That day, 02:05 work was like any other day. Then something happened. There was a blind man in his line. He 02:13 made his order and then was going to pay. As he drew his monies out of his pants, a 20 02:20 dollar bill fell on the ground. I'm sure its happened to you, it's happen to me. You have too 02:26 many things in your pocket and pull something out and other things fall to the floor. 02:32 Because the man was blind, he didn't notice. The woman standing behind the blind man 02:40 picked up the 20 dollar bill and placed it in her purse. Joey was astonished and asked her to 02:49 return the money, but she refused. He then gave her an ultimatum. Return the money or 02:55 leave the store. She actually left without returning the money. Joey Prusak was so 03:05 astonished, yet moved in his heart. 19 year old Joey Prusak couldn't stand for such an 03:13 injustice.he took 20 dollars of his own money and gave it to the blind man. It is a true story 03:23 that speaks volumes of the sad state of our society, yet gives us a glimpse of something more. 03:32 I don't know if Joey Prusak is a Christian or not, but he demonstrated in this act of 03:41 kindness the love of Jesus Christ. 03:48 Law actually exists out of love. God's law, the ten commandments exist because God loves us. Yet 03:57 his law also defines our love response to Him John 14:15, the words of Jesus Himself. What 04:06 does Jesus say? 04:12 You see, the law is freeing. The law is not restrictive. And love always leads to obedience. 04:19 Now, I need to be very clear so I'm not misunderstood. We obey God not in order to be saved. We 04:27 obey God because we are saved. I hope that makes sense. See, we don't obey to be saved, because 04:36 obedience, the Bible tells us, will not save us. What or who will save us? Jesus will save us 04:43 and His righteousness. But God calls upon us as we enter into relationship with Him, because 04:51 we love Him, to be obedient to His instructions, His commandments. 1 John 2, verses 05:03 3 and 4 are much more pointed: 05:30 While that may sound harsh, here is fundamentally what we must understand. Grace and God's 05:36 law are not contradictory ideas. So what is the role of God's law? Put simply, this is what it 05:44 is. According to Paul in Romans chapter 3 and verse 20: 05:56 I want you to picture in your mind a mirror. You see, the law is like a mirror. When we look 06:02 into the law, what do we see? We see our reflection. And when we look into God's law, it tells us 06:11 what the imperfections are in us. But let me ask you a question: Most of us, on a 06:18 regular basis, visit a mirror. When you come to the mirror and you notice, "I have a blemish on 06:22 my face, my hair is receding," or whatever the mirror may tell you - which is sometimes 06:28 depressing, when you look into the mirror and you notice your hair is a little bit of a mess, 06:34 does the mirror fix your hair for you? No. No, the mirror simply tells you that your hair 06:47 needs fixing. Now, here's the other question: When you're looking in the mirror, if you're 06:52 standing in front of the mirror and you're far away, how helpful is that mirror, usually? Not 06:58 very helpful. So I want you to imagine for a moment that I put a mirror 25 meters away, and I 07:03 looked at myself in the mirror from that distance. Everything looks okay. But you see, as we 07:12 get closer to the mirror, what happens? You begin to see. "I don't have as much hair as I did 07:18 when I was 18. I maybe had too many visits to TimHorton's this month." So on and so forth. Are 07:25 you following me so far? You see, the closer we are to God's law, the closer we are to God, 07:29 the more revealing it is to us. Paul said in Romans 7:7: 07:46 The law defines sin for us. So there is no floating definition of sin; the law clearly 07:54 identifies what sin is. 07:58 Why is it then that there are many Christians who say that the law is done away with? That we 08:06 are under grace and not the law. Does it really need to be one or the other? What then is the role 08:13 of law and grace? Follow the logic. If there is no law, there's no sin.Because sin 08:27 cannot be defined. And before we stand up and clap and cheer, if there's no sin, there's no 08:35 grace. Now some of you are saying, "How is that possible?" The book of Romans says, where 08:43 sin abounds, grace abounds even more. You see, if we don't know that there's sin, there is no 08:50 need for grace. By the way, if there is no grace, there is no cross. And if there is no cross, 08:56 there is no salvation. And if there is no salvation, there is no saviour. And dear friends, 09:01 that would be very bad news. But the Bible says there's good news. And the good news is, 09:09 there is a saviour. And that saviour came to bring salvation, and that saviour who brought 09:16 salvation brought grace. And the same saviour who brought salvation and brought grace is 09:23 the one who wrote the law in the stones that were given to Moses, but He's also the one who 09:28 authored the law in aeons and ages in the past to govern the universe, and He's the one that 09:37 can save us from that and from our sin. So then, what is the role of grace? Ephesians 2:8 and 09:48 9 says this: 10:03 You see, God's grace is unmerited. It is the key to the Jerusalem factor. It means we 10:10 don't deserve it. But it's God freely giving mercy, pardon, forgiveness, but also love, and 10:19 the power. What kind of power? The power to overcome. When God came to this world by sending 10:30 His Son Jesus Christ, He came bringing grace, not to take us away from the law, but rather, 10:38 to pay the penalty that is demanded by the law. He came to live perfectly obedient to 10:44 demonstrate to us that through Him, we can live victorious lives in Him. 10:54 So does God's grace do away with the law? No, of course not. Romans 3:31 says, 11:13 Let me illustrate exactly what I mean. I was driving one day. I was going to preach at a church, 11:20 which is the sad part of the story. And as I entered the expressway, I was going faster 11:26 than I needed to be going. And at first, I saw it, and then I heard it. You know, it's the 11:37 thing you don't like to see in your rear-view mirror when you're driving. But there as I 11:45 was driving along, I saw in the rear view mirror the lights, and then I heard the sirens. So I 11:54 pulled over, and when I pulled over, the officer came to the window, "Can I see your licence 11:58 and registration?" And he said to me, "Do you know that you were speeding?" And I said, 12:04 "Yes, I know." So he took my license and registration and went back to his car and he was 12:11 taking a long time, and you know, it's not an exhilarating experience right before you're 12:18 supposed to preach to have somebody give you a ticket because you broke the law. It's 12:25 kind of, you know, counterintuitive. And so I sat there and waited, and then he 12:31 came back and he peeked his head in. And he says to me, "Where were you on your way to today?" 12:36 "I'm on my way to church." "What were you going to do there?" "I'm the preacher." He handed me 12:46 my driver's license and my registration and he said, "Pastor, you have a good day, 12:52 and slow down." Don't miss the point. See, the law was clear. There was a limit to my speed, 13:04 and I had broken the law. Don't miss it now. Grace was that the officer did not have to allow me 13:18 to leave. His grace was that he let me go despite my breaking of the law. And now here's the 13:26 key piece. What do you think I did when I drove away? I drove the speed limit, below it, all 13:40 the way there, because grace did not change the law. Grace simply allowed me not to receive the 13:49 just penalty that the law demanded because the officer granted me grace to not inflict 13:59 upon me. 14:04 Then here's the fundamental question that I must ask those that tell me, "But you don't 14:09 understand, preacher, Jesus changed the law": Friend, Why would God send His Son to suffer 14:15 the cruel death that He did if all God had to do, with a magic sweep of a wand, was change the 14:21 law? You see, the demand of the law, the demand, the wages - because rememberRomans 6:23 says 14:28 the wages of sin is deathAnd how do we define sin? Sin is defined by the law. You see, the demand 14:38 of the law is death, which is why Jesus had to die. Why would God send His Son to suffer such 14:44 a cruel death if all He needed to do was say, "You know what? Let me just tweak those 14:49 commandments from 'You shall not' to 'You should not.'" But God did not do that. You see, 14:59 Psalm 19:7 says the law of the Lord is perfect. Does something that is perfect need to be 15:15 changed? No, see, the law of God is perfect. Psalm 119 says: 15:27 How long is forever? Forever! Forever is forever, which is - it sounds silly to say that. But 15:33 forever is everlasting. It never changes. God's Word is settled in heaven forever. It may not be 15:41 settled in our mind, it may not be settled in our heart, but know for sure, in heaven, it's 15:52 settled. Jesus Himself said: 16:02 But what did He come to do? To fulfill. How was He fulfilling? By living a perfectly obedient 16:09 life on this earth and receiving the penalty that the law demanded. You see, God's Word is 16:18 clear. The law is everlasting. And had God's people kept the law, we would've never been in 16:28 the predicament that we now face. Proverbs 29:18 has this simple statement: 16:52 Think about that. Happy. How many of you like being happy? You see, you probably even 16:56 smiled when I asked. None of us like being sad. I've never met anybody in my life that said, 17:03 "You know, I really wish - I was really wishing that today I could feel more sad." I've never 17:08 heard that in my life. If you do feel that way go to our youtube channel and see the programs 17:22 "Depression the Way Out." But the promise of God is as follow Romans 6:14 says this: 17:38 And so we see this, and this is how many Christians today interpret this, that the law's 17:43 been done away with because we're under grace. So that means when you come to Jesus, you can 17:50 live your life however you want to live your life and you have no accountability to Him. Is 17:55 that what that means? What does it mean to be under the law? You see, if we're under the law, it 17:59 means this: It means that we are under the law as a method of salvation. Can the law save us? 18:05 No, the law simply tells us that we need to be saved. Does that make sense? The law is the 18:11 mirror. The law tells us, tells us, "This is sin," and tells us, when we see it, and we say, 18:17 "This is sin, and I have sinned," it tells me what? I need a saviour. 18:25 What does it mean to be under grace? To be under grace means that we accept Christ's pardon, 18:30 receive Christ's forgiveness, and are filled with His power. His power to do what? His power 18:37 to be obedient to Him and live a Christ-centred life in this world, because the proverb says, 18:44 "Happy is he who keeps God's law." Revelation says, "Here is the patience of the saints." 18:51 Here are those that keep the commandments of God, that we can demonstrate on this earth what 19:03 it really means to be a follower of Jesus Christ. The beauty of God's law and the beauty of the 19:12 Bible is that the law is all about the grace of Jesus Christ. You see, the law can be 19:19 summarized in one word: love. And Jesus said that Himself. 19:30 What were the those two commandments? 19:43 You see, love. The law of God can be defined as - by the way, look at the Ten Commandments. 19:49 The first four are about our vertical relationship: love to God. The last six, about the 20:02 horizontal relationship: our relationships and love to one another. You see, love God and 20:10 your fellow man. Jesus came to this earth not to change the law, but to fulfil the law and 20:16 to demonstrate to us what a life of obedience looks like, to demonstrate to us what a life 20:25 living for Him looks like. And to further emphasize this point, Hebrews chapter 8 and verse 10, 20:38 which is quoting the new covenant: 20:56 In Exodus chapter 20, the Bible records God writing the law in stone. In the new covenant, God 21:03 wants to take the law and not write it in stone; He wants to write it on our fleshy heart, 21:12 that we would look like Him, that we would act like Him, that we would exude love, love to 21:19 Him, love to our fellow man. 21:27 I asked this question in our last program, what would happen in Canada, what would happen in 21:33 the world if everyone had engraved in their heart the very law of God? There would be no 21:39 news articles about so-and-so killing so-and-so; ISIS would cease to exist; Al-Qaeda would 21:48 cease to exist; terrorism would cease to exist; murders would cease to exist; robberies would 21:55 cease to exist, because the love of God and the grace of God has changed us to bring us perfect 22:04 peace and happiness. You see, God's law, the Bible, is a roadmap to happiness, because 22:16 His grace, when it enters our life, breaks the chains free Today, friend, are you 22:25 struggling? Today, are you wrestling with something in your life? Today, are you distant 22:31 from God? Today, Jesus says, "My law is a gift to you and a demonstration of the grace that 22:38 I have for you. And if you receive my grace and love me fully, I will break the chains 22:44 so that you might be obedient and live life to its fullest. It's the power of the gospel, 22:52 the power of the grace of God. He gave His law, not intending to restrict us, but He gave His 22:59 law to give us freedom, freedom in Him to live life to its absolute fullest.It is the 23:07 Jersusalem factor. Jesus who is in heaven in the sanctuary made by God, ministering on our 23:19 behalf now. Today if you want to say, give me Jesus, join me in prayer. 23:32 Heavenly Father, we are grateful that when You wrote in that stone that You gave Moses, 23:40 "Thou shalt not kill." You were thinking of me, You were thinking of all of us. Before 23:46 You wrote it in stone, when You simply had it as the very foundation of the government, 23:49 You looked down the ages and saw each of us as individuals and said, "This is going to give 23:55 them perfect happiness." So today, as we leave, we give our hearts fully into Your hand. We 24:03 ask that Jesus would enter our heart, that we would receive His grace, His unmerited favour, 24:09 that we would be saved in Him, and that we would have those chains of sin broken, and that 24:16 You would give us the power to live a life to its fullest in You. We pray this in Jesus' 24:22 name, amen. 24:38 I try to reach out for you but I fall 24:44 Sometimes you seem so close and yet so far 24:51 Lord I need another chance 24:55 I need to know your mercy 24:58 Just give me the strength to change within 25:05 I know that I am not all that I can be 25:12 My weakness seems to get the best of me 25:18 But as long as you are here 25:22 I know that I can make it 25:26 Every step along the way 25:28 Please hear my prayer 25:32 A heart like yours, is my desire 25:38 A heart like yours, is what I am searching for 25:45 Full of compassion, nothing wrong within 25:52 Please help me Lord, give me a heart like yours 25:59 So much grace, so much kindness 26:06 So much faith, forever true 26:13 Strong as the wind, soft as the shadows 26:21 If only one day, I could be like you 26:27 A heart like yours, is my desire 26:34 A heart like yours, is my desire 26:40 A heart like yours, is what I am searching for 26:47 Full of compassion, nothing wrong within 26:54 Please help me Lord, give me a heart like yours 27:01 Please help me Lord, give me a heart like yours 27:08 A heart like yours, is my desire 27:14 A heart like yours, is what I am searching for 27:22 Full of compassion, nothing wrong within 27:28 Please help me Lord, give me a heart like yours 27:35 Please help me Lord, give me a heart like yours 28:02 Dear friends, God's law brings true freedom in Him. I'd like to give you three offers today - 28:09 the first of those offers is a little booklet called "Does God's Grace Blot Out The Law". 28:15 In it, it will answer many of the questions you may have about the relationship between law and 28:20 grace. 2nd, I would like to offer you the "Discover Bible Lessons", those lessons will 28:26 help you draw nearer to Jesus - both of those offers are absolutely free! And then for 28:32 any size donation, I want to offer you the full DVD set - 8 parts of "The Jerusalem Factor". 28:39 Here's the information you need to receive today's offers. 29:29 Friends, that is what a relationship is all about - Love. His law is all about love. 29:36 If you would like to draw nearer to him I would invite you to go to www.ItIsWrittenCanada.ca and 29:41 there you can find resources that you would come closer to Jesus Christ. I hope, I hope you 29:48 found peace in Him today through this program. I'd invite you to join us again next week. Until 29:53 then remember, It Is Written, man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that 30:00 proceeds from the mouth of God. |
Revised 2016-11-29