Participants: Dwayne Lemon, Lance Wilbur
Series Code: TKS
Program Code: TKS000025A
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00:30 Hello, I'm Dwayne. And I'm Lance.
00:32 And we like to welcome you to another episode of TKS, 00:35 a True Knowledge of Self, 00:36 where we get to know ourselves from a biblical perspective. 00:39 In our last episode, we talked a lot about this contrast. 00:42 We spend some time looking at a true knowledge of self 00:45 from biblical perspective and then we looked at this idea 00:48 of knowledge of self that is constantly being promoted 00:51 through hip-hop culture, you know, 00:54 a place from which both of us came. 00:56 And we looked at this idea 01:00 that righteousness is what is necessary. 01:04 Absolutely. 01:05 We saw that righteousness can only come from God, 01:08 it's something that God possess in and of himself. 01:10 And we saw that God gave it to us in the beginning 01:14 as we looked at Genesis 1:26. 01:17 And that something happened that took it away 01:20 and we call that 'sin', we looked at Genesis 3. 01:24 What man has done to replace God's righteousness, 01:28 if you will, is what we refer to as self righteousness. 01:32 So, we simply produce this "righteousness", 01:37 that really isn't at all. 01:39 We saw that the heart is deceitful and desperate 01:41 above all things and in Jeremiah 17. 01:45 And now, as we're kind of wrestling with this idea 01:52 where what God has is what we need. 01:55 That's right. 01:56 It's what we once had but we've now lost. 01:59 We've spent all of our lives in some cases 02:02 trying to produce something that we cannot produce. 02:05 It requires, in order to obtain it, 02:07 it requires total dependence upon God. 02:10 In fact, it's God's plan of salvation, 02:12 we're going to be talking about that a little more. 02:15 And when I think about this, what hip-hop culture gave me 02:21 in this promotion of self righteousness, self exaltation. 02:28 I was thirsty for knowledge, 02:31 I mean, I got to a point in my young life 02:34 where I was sick and tired of the grinds, you know, 02:37 the day-to-day doing the same things 02:40 with the same people and, you know, 02:43 whether it was crime or parties, having fun, 02:47 or whatever other dirt I was involved with 02:49 in confusion I was subjected to. 02:52 I got sick and tired of it, you know. 02:54 And I refer to it as my mid-life crisis 02:56 even though I was just a teenager. 02:58 And I remember that one day 03:00 when I was there surrounded by friends, you know, 03:02 in this party atmosphere and I began to, you know, 03:06 reflect in my own mind and ask myself those questions, 03:08 you know, does God exist and all this stuff. 03:11 And I got a voice in my head, it said, 03:13 "If you want answers, go and read." 03:14 So I had this desire to know. 03:16 I knew that I was ignorant even though I was intelligent 03:20 and I was in control of my domain, if you will. 03:22 I knew I was ignorant, and I lack certain knowledge 03:25 and I wanted it desperately. 03:27 So I was already a citizen, if you will, a representative, 03:31 I'm an ambassador of hip-hop culture. 03:34 And kind of that's the lens 03:37 through which I looked at the world. 03:39 So when I got this voice came in my head, I literally... 03:41 It wasn't audible but, you know, 03:43 this voice came in my head 03:44 in my own quiet reflection, it said, 03:45 "If you want answers, go read." 03:47 So in this thirst for knowledge and this desire 03:50 and this seeking after knowledge, 03:51 I started just reading, you know, 03:52 reading philosophy and all these different books, 03:56 and different religions, and studying. 03:58 Because pretty much this idea that, 04:03 "We are God, essentially" 04:05 that's promoted by what you were involved 04:07 with 'Nuwaubianism', 04:09 what I was involved with in the Five-Percent Nation, 04:12 you know, or the NOI, Nation of Islam 04:14 or many other is that 04:15 the true knowledge is that God is us. 04:18 We are God. 04:19 And therefore what we say is truth is truth 04:23 and what we decide and what we choose 04:26 is righteousness and is authority. 04:28 So truth is kind of everywhere. 04:30 The various religions have become fronts, shields, 04:35 veils, if you will, for the deaf, dumb, 04:37 and blind that the ignorant, you know, 04:39 the mental dead and you have to peel back 04:42 those religious layers and those labels 04:45 to obtain the true hidden knowledge, 04:47 kind of that esoteric knowledge. 04:49 So that's what I was after. 04:50 And so I'm looking at philosophy books, 04:51 looking at Shamanism, looking at Buddhism, 04:54 looking at Islam, not necessarily for its value 04:57 but to peel back the layer 04:59 and see the true hidden knowledge 05:01 that I believed at that time 05:03 was true knowledge of self, right? 05:06 And I found myself, year after year, 05:10 completely unfulfilled in that, you know, 05:14 rat race, if you will, that constant desire, 05:17 although God was leading, you know, 05:20 God was kind of winking 05:22 as the Bible says at my ignorance 05:24 and he was drawing me and drawing me. 05:26 So as I was continuing and persevering 05:28 through the hardship and still trying to obtain the truth, 05:32 God was actually leading me, you know, 05:34 unbeknownst to me to the reality 05:37 that scripture presents that His word presents. 05:40 And so whether it was in my decision making 05:44 as it relates to crime, 05:47 decision making as it relates to, 05:49 you know, family. 05:51 By that time in my late teens 05:53 my oldest daughter was born, you know. 05:55 So I'm making kind of life-changing decisions 05:57 as I'm navigating through this search for knowledge 06:00 and really all I was consulting with was myself. 06:05 And even as I started, you know, 06:06 looking at 'New Age' religion 06:08 and started practicing meditation. 06:11 Meditation is kind of emptying self 06:14 and you're looking within, 06:16 if you will, the solution is inside. 06:19 So you're learning how to empty your mind 06:21 and focus on all these things 06:23 and, you know, it goes on and on. 06:24 But nevertheless I'm consulting with myself. 06:27 I am the barometer. I am the standard, if you will. 06:31 And whatever I choose to accept and identify 06:34 as truth becomes the truth. 06:35 So I'm looking at everything and I'm saying, 06:37 "Well, there's a little bit of truth in everything." 06:39 I simply have to manufacture it into my package 06:42 and this becomes truth. 06:44 And I am the controller of my own destiny. 06:47 I am the master of my own domain 06:50 and whatever I identify as truth, that's what it is. 06:53 And you, kind of, look in disgust at Christianity 06:58 and set religions and labels 07:01 and you feel like you transcended any label 07:05 that human has put on individuals. 07:08 So I was hip-hop culture and hip-hop culture taught me 07:12 that I am God, that labels do not bind me 07:17 that my expression is paramount. 07:20 And so it's one of the most deceptive 07:25 and powerfully selfish forms in ways of living. 07:30 Because every single decision you make 07:33 is tainted with self-interest, and self-exaltation, 07:37 and self-gratification. 07:39 And so, I was completely empty, empty through it all. 07:45 And it wasn't until, and as I told the story before, 07:48 it wasn't until I started actually studying the Bible 07:51 through a series of, you know, providential circumstances. 07:56 The very thing that I was rejecting, 07:58 the very thing that I was dismissing 08:01 became the very source that fulfilled me 08:03 and gave me a true knowledge of self. 08:06 So as we are talking about this stuff 08:07 and we are talking about righteousness, 08:09 self-righteousness, 08:11 we are talking about God's plan of salvation. 08:14 You know, how does it work? 08:15 We're going to talk about that but you know, 08:17 what do you have to say about this 08:19 'cause I know you had a similar experience? 08:20 Yeah, I mean, and it's not just me, 08:22 I think it's all of us, you know. 08:24 All of humanity at some point or another 08:26 has run into a place 08:27 where we were trying to make ourselves right, you know. 08:30 And often it is without God 08:33 we have all this experimentation. 08:35 If you really wanted to sum up self-righteousness 08:39 or this deceptive aspect of self-righteousness, 08:42 it actually goes back to the garden. 08:45 Satan introduced a thought process 08:47 and through the medium of the serpent to Eve's mind 08:49 that speaks volumes 08:50 because it's still what's happening today 08:52 that is causing the skewing of righteousness by faith. 08:56 When you look at Genesis 3, it says right there 08:59 in verses 4 and 5. 09:02 "And the serpent said unto the woman, 09:03 you shall not surely die." 09:05 Now, God made a clear command, 09:07 "If you eat of this, you shall surely die." 09:10 Satan comes along and tries to supersede God and says, 09:15 "What God said is wrong." 09:16 He says, "You shall not surely die," 09:17 but then he puts in another piece to the package. 09:20 It says, "For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, 09:24 then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as Gods, 09:28 knowing good and evil." 09:31 Here it is that Satan tried to introduce 09:34 that if you disobey God and His commandments, 09:38 you can actually ascend to a higher existence. 09:41 And this is basically the same lie 09:43 that is being perpetuated today. 09:44 Right, and so, from both of our perspectives, 09:46 we were victims of that ancient deception. 09:49 That's correct. 09:50 That's exactly is, because it goes way back 09:52 to the beginning of time. 09:53 You can ascend, you can be right with God, 09:56 and you can still violate His law, 09:58 and somehow be in right standing with Him. 10:00 And this is the deception that goes way back. 10:02 Even last year, you know, there was a statement 10:05 that was made interestingly enough through an individual 10:09 who was an evangelical by the name of Bishop Tony Palmer 10:13 where he was kind of instrumental 10:15 in being a voice of ecumenism for the Roman Catholic church 10:20 and Pope Francis where he tried to tell Protestants, 10:23 "You don't need be a Protestant anymore, 10:25 the protest is over." 10:27 And he actually tried to say it like, 10:29 because now we even as Roman Catholics, 10:32 we also believe in righteousness by faith, 10:33 we believe in justification by faith 10:36 and they are trying to present that. 10:38 And I thought it was a very interesting statement 10:40 because there are individuals that think 10:43 we can be in right standing with God, 10:45 yet we can still violate His law. 10:47 And whether it be, 10:49 you don't have to keep God's commandments 10:51 specifically the seventh-day Sabbath 10:53 and you can go ahead and keep another day of the week 10:54 as the Lord's Day. 10:56 Or otherwise there are errors 10:57 that are constantly being perpetuated 10:59 in the name of righteousness by faith, 11:01 violating God's law, 11:02 yet being in right standing with God. 11:05 In other words, it's like let's not focus on the things 11:08 that divide us. 11:09 That's correct. 11:11 Let's focus on the things that we agree upon. 11:12 And that's okay to a certain point, 11:14 but not at the expense 11:16 of God's righteousness and His commandments. 11:17 Well, let's think about it this way. 11:19 If you look at Romans 2:13, the Bible says, 11:22 "For not the hearers of the law are just before God, 11:26 but the doers of the law shall be justified." 11:29 Now that doesn't mean that if I perform a work 11:33 that I can be made in right standing with God. 11:35 What this verse is actually saying 11:37 and that's why sometimes looking at 11:38 in the original is helpful. 11:40 Because when it says, 11:41 "For the doers of the law shall be justified," 11:43 it actually says in the Greek, 11:45 "For the doers of the law shall be declared justified." 11:48 In other words, if an individual 11:49 truly is experiencing justification by faith, 11:52 it will be shown through their lives 11:56 being in harmony with God's law. 11:57 Nobody can live in sin 12:01 and at the same time claim to be in harmony with God. 12:04 It is a lie, it is a deception. 12:06 It goes way back to that deceptive work 12:08 of the serpent right there in the garden. 12:10 So there is a biblical culture of Christianity. 12:14 We realize now that we are outside of it, 12:17 you know, some of us where we were outside of it. 12:20 So the question is how do we turn 12:22 from the slavery of sin 12:26 and doing the things that we, 12:27 in many cases, know to be wrong. 12:29 That's right. But we are slave to it. 12:31 That's correct. 12:32 How do we get out of that? How do we turn? 12:33 Fantastic question, because this I believe is the question. 12:37 A lot of people have given up on Christ, Christianity, 12:41 and the Word of God 12:43 and the true principals of righteousness by faith 12:45 because they did not know how to apply it. 12:47 They did not know how does it work. 12:49 And when you keep trying something 12:51 and you keep failing, you start to convince your mind, 12:53 "You know what, it's not possible." 12:55 So, when you think of the concept 12:56 of victory over sin, 12:57 that man can get to a point that he can love God so much 13:00 that he'll actually keep God's commandments 13:02 rather than break them. 13:03 1 John 3:4 says, 13:05 "Sin is the breaking of God's commandments." 13:07 God's commandments are righteousness as we studied. 13:10 So therefore God, when He says, 13:12 "If you love Me, you'll keep My commandments," 13:15 then God is saying, "Love enables us 13:18 to actually obey and experience true righteousness." 13:21 And this is the love that God must shed in our hearts. 13:23 It's something we can't shed in and of ourselves. 13:26 So one of the first things that man has to understand 13:28 in true righteousness by faith, is the principle of John 15:5, 13:33 "Without me you can do nothing." 13:34 And that includes you can't even love God. 13:37 I can't love God. 13:38 People can say they love people all the time 13:40 and this why again I believe 13:42 it's so important for us to deal with the realities 13:44 that are taught through hip-hop culture 13:46 because hip-hop culture has many pillars 13:48 and we're going to talk about them. 13:50 And one of the chief pillars is something called love. 13:52 But we're going to identify 13:53 is it true love or is it false love. 13:55 Jesus says, "If you love Me, you will keep righteousness. 13:58 You will keep My commandments." 13:59 But the problem is naturally I don't love God. 14:02 Naturally no man loves God. 14:04 Jeremiah 13:23 says, 14:06 "Can the Ethiopian change his skin?" 14:08 The answer is no. 14:09 "Can the leopard change his spots?" 14:11 The answer is no. 14:12 Then it says, "Then, how can you do good 14:14 that are accustomed to doing evil?" 14:16 So, if I am bent on evil, 14:18 I can't at the same time profess 14:20 that I love righteousness. 14:21 So I need a power source outside of myself 14:25 to enable me to do 14:26 what is impossible for me to do otherwise. 14:28 So in that sentiment that's presented in the culture 14:33 we, you know, it's... 14:35 Christianity in the standards 14:37 that the Bible presents are dismissed 14:39 because they view it as oppressive. 14:40 You know, they're colonial, you know, 14:43 remnants of colonialism there. 14:44 There's something 14:46 that people have used to enslave other people. 14:50 Well, think about it this way. 14:51 Satan goes to Eve and says, "You won't die," 14:55 so he's inferring God as a liar, 14:57 then he says, "Actually when you sin, 15:00 your eyes are going to be open." 15:01 What is that infer? 15:02 That means that God was keeping your eyes closed. 15:05 It's like, he's constantly attacking God. 15:07 The same way we see that the culture of hip-hop 15:09 is constantly attacking biblical religion today. 15:12 It's constantly making it sound like, 15:13 "Stay out of this box, don't be boxed in, be free." 15:17 That's exactly what the serpent said to Eve 15:19 and he did tell part of the truth 15:21 because he said, "When you eat from it," 15:24 he did say "your eyes will be opened," 15:26 and that was true. 15:27 But the problem was when their eyes were opened, 15:29 they were not like God's, 15:30 they did not ascend higher, they went lower. 15:32 And that's the part that he kept out 15:34 because that's the deceptive nature of the serpent. 15:36 So it is that that's the deceptive nature 15:38 of hip-hop culture. 15:39 And I think it's important to interject this point. 15:41 Yeah. 15:42 We are not saying that those who teach, and proclaim, 15:47 and uplift hip-hop culture 15:49 are actual manipulative deceivers 15:54 that are deliberately going out and trying to do people wrong. 15:57 There are people, I am sure, that are in hip-hop culture 16:00 that lift it up and they believe is right. 16:02 They believe what they are doing is right. 16:04 Yeah. They think it's a solution. 16:05 Yeah. They're sincere. 16:07 But the problem is this that you can be sincerely wrong. 16:09 And that's why truth makes people free. 16:11 So that's why our program is based on teaching the truth 16:13 and giving people the true knowledge of self. 16:15 And we are not trying to simply condemn individuals 16:19 and things of that nature, 16:20 even though they lift up hip-hop culture 16:21 because they just might be counted amongst those 16:23 who are suffering with blindness, spiritual blindness. 16:25 And we're also not saying is that 16:27 everybody that wears the label 'Christianity' 16:30 is all of a sudden representing God 16:32 and the truth and the Word and all those things. 16:34 We understand and that's 16:35 one of things that we looked at, 16:36 you know, that I know I did. 16:38 When you looked at Christianity 16:39 I only saw evil, treachery, deception... 16:42 The dark ages, persecution, you know, 16:45 killing of other people, 16:46 enslaving other people, conquering nations, 16:49 forcing whole entire ethnicities into, 16:52 you know, almost extinction. 16:53 So I saw historically Christianity is something 16:57 that is oppressive and not uplifting. 16:59 That is correct. 17:00 And so we're not saying that every person that names 17:02 the name of Christ or calls themselves, 17:04 you know, goes to a church 17:06 or is the example that we are supposed to be following. 17:08 But the Bible gives us an example. 17:10 Well, the Bible is very clear, isn't it? 17:11 Yeah. 17:12 It says in Matthew 7, 17:14 "By their fruit you shall know them." 17:15 So anybody can say they are Christian, 17:17 they say, well, anybody can say that they love their wives 17:18 but the problem is, 17:20 if you are coming home and beating your wife up 17:22 or, you know, beating your children up 17:23 because they irk you or got you upset. 17:25 Your actions are demonstrating that your declaration is false. 17:29 And so it is that when an individual is saying 17:31 that they love God, and they want to serve God, 17:33 and do all these things, and yet they know 17:36 what God requires but just choose not to do it. 17:38 The Bible has a word for that and it's found in 1 John. 17:41 In the Book of 1 John, 17:43 you'll see right there in 1 John 2. 17:45 The Bible makes it very clear, 1 John 2:4, 17:49 "He that saith, I know Him 17:51 and keepeth not His commandments, 17:53 is a lair, and the truth is not in him." 17:56 So this is what the Bible says and we have to accept 17:58 the clear testimony of scripture. 18:00 So there are people who are making professions, 18:02 declarations etc, people are, 18:05 they are pursuing righteousness. 18:06 They want it but the problem is they don't really know 18:08 how to get it. 18:10 So the first phase is for an individual 18:12 to understand, "I am a sinner. I am wrong. 18:16 I am not as great and wonderful and marvelous and righteous, 18:21 a person as I think I am, or thought I am. 18:24 I must recognize I am a sinner." 18:26 In fact, I like Leviticus 4, 18:28 I think Leviticus 4 makes it plain, 18:29 this whole process we're talking about. 18:31 So we're going to just meditate a little bit on Leviticus 4. 18:34 It was, you know, the sanctuary services 18:37 God was showing the common people, 18:40 this is how you come to Me, 18:42 and this is how we can make some wrongs right, all right? 18:45 So I believe the more that we look at Leviticus 4, 18:48 we can find some nice principles in here 18:50 that we can apply today 18:52 of how God can help us get out of the false concepts 18:55 of righteousness into the true knowledge of self 18:58 and true righteousness by faith. 19:00 Yeah. All right. 19:02 In Leviticus 4, it starts right at verse 27, the Bible says, 19:05 "And if anyone of the common people sin through ignorance, 19:09 while he doeth somewhat against any of the commandments 19:12 of the Lord concerning things 19:13 which ought not to be done and be guilty or if his sin, 19:17 which he hath sinned, come to his knowledge: 19:21 then he shall bring his offering, 19:23 a kid of the goats, a female without blemish, 19:25 for his sin which he hath sinned." 19:27 So the first part we see is 19:28 that the individual must acknowledge their sin. 19:30 They have to see, I am a sinner. 19:32 I'm not in as greater shape as I thought I was. 19:34 I'm not as great a mother, father, brother, sister, friend 19:37 or worker, even gospel worker, or religious person. 19:41 I am not as great as I thought I was 19:42 and I'm certainly not a God. 19:44 So I need help, I am a sinner. 19:46 "And all sinners have the same condemnation which is death," 19:49 Romans 6:23. The payment for sin is death. 19:51 If you are a sinner, it means you committed sin 19:54 and nobody likes to work and not get paid. 19:57 And so it is that the Bible says, 19:58 "The payment for sin is death." 20:00 So sinners are on a path that leads to destruction. 20:04 God's love says, "I don't want you to die, 20:06 I want you to live." 20:08 So He was willing to do for man what man cannot do for himself. 20:12 Man couldn't save himself. 20:13 So God so loved the world that He said, 20:14 "I'm going to let you have My only begotten Son." 20:17 Now, that word 'begotten' needs to be understood right. 20:20 That word 'begotten' in the Greek 20:22 is a Greek word 'monogenes'. 20:23 It means the only one of its kind. 20:25 So when God says, when the Bible says, 20:27 "For God so loved the world 20:29 that He gave His only begotten Son," 20:30 He was saying, "I'm giving the only One 20:32 that's like Me." 20:33 In other words, the Father gave everything 20:36 so that man can have everything. 20:38 Yeah, the only solution. The only solution. 20:40 This must be brought to the mind of the individual, 20:43 you can't save yourself. 20:45 You cannot do... 20:46 Acts 4:12, "There is only one name under heaven 20:49 whereby a man may be saved and that is Christ Jesus." 20:52 So the first thing I had to realize 20:53 coming out of hip-hop culture is that 20:55 I can't do anything to give myself merit 20:57 before God. 20:59 I am messed up and I need help. 21:00 I am a sinner and I need salvation 21:02 and it only comes through one man. 21:04 It doesn't come through Buddha, 21:05 it doesn't come through Muhammad, 21:07 it doesn't come through Zen, 21:08 it dose not come through many of the other names 21:10 in various religions 21:11 and it certainly doesn't come through my name 21:13 Dwayne Lemon. 21:14 So therefore it comes through Christ. 21:15 So the individual must be willing to accept 21:17 that propitiation that was made on their behalf. 21:20 Jesus was willing to die that man may live, 21:22 we must accept that by faith. 21:24 This would be what we will call phase I. 21:27 I am a sinner, I am in sin, I have violated God's law, 21:30 I am guilty, and I need salvation, 21:32 and it can only come through the merits of someone 21:35 who suffered the death I should die 21:38 that I may have the life that He lived. 21:41 And so what's the next step? 21:43 Well, then the next step would be very simple. 21:44 After an individual receives the Bible says 21:46 something beautiful happens. 21:48 It's in Romans 3 and in Romans 3, 21:51 it is sweet, and I love talking about this. 21:53 It says in Romans 3, we read it before 21:56 in our previous program but I'm going to read it again. 21:58 It says, "Even," in verse 22, "Even the righteousness of God 22:03 which is by faith of Jesus Christ 22:07 unto all and upon all them that believe, 22:11 for there is no difference." 22:13 When an individual recognizes, 22:16 "I'm a sinner, I need salvation. 22:18 I can't save myself. 22:20 I can't make myself right with God." 22:21 Then what they do is they go to the one 22:23 who can make them right which is Jesus. 22:25 They confess their sins, "Lord, I have sinned, 22:28 I have messed up, I have done wrong, 22:30 I need your help. 22:32 Will you please have mercy on me and forgive me?" 22:34 And as long as that's done with a sincere heart, 22:36 the Bible says, "God will forgive them," 22:39 1 John 1:9. 22:41 If we confess our sins, God is faithful and just, 22:43 He will forgive us, 22:45 He will cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 22:47 Now, if you're cleansed from all unrighteousness, 22:50 then what are you? 22:51 Righteous. Righteous. 22:53 So, now this person is in right standing of God but why? 22:55 It said in the verse 22, 22:57 "Even though righteousness of God 22:59 which by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them 23:03 that believe." 23:05 God takes His righteous robe 23:06 and as after we confess our sins 23:08 and plead the merits of Christ on my behalf 23:11 that God now can take away our filthiness in that record. 23:15 And He now can clothe us with His righteousness. 23:20 So now when God looks at us, He sees us just as He desired. 23:23 He sees us as righteous 23:25 and now there is only thing left to do. 23:26 Stay righteous. 23:29 This is what we call abiding in Christ. 23:31 So now we have to go ahead and say, "All right. 23:33 I am actually made in right standing with God 23:35 not because of anything I did 23:37 but because of the one who did all things 23:39 on my behalf. 23:40 I acknowledge what Christ has done for me 23:42 and accept it as a substitute, 23:46 His death for my death, His life for my life. 23:50 So now I'm seeking to live the life of Christ day-by-day, 23:55 and that's why Romans 8 becomes 23:57 a balancing point of the scripture. 23:59 It is not just simply a robe of righteousness 24:01 that God wants to put upon us to justify us. 24:05 And I want to be clear. 24:06 The robe of Christ is not put over a dirty robe. 24:11 I want to make that clear. 24:12 The robe of Christ is put on an individual 24:15 after their dirty robe has been taken away. 24:17 A beautiful way to look at this is to simply study Zachariah 3. 24:21 When Satan had to accuse Joshua before the angel, 24:26 Satan was accusing, accusing, accusing 24:29 but the Lord rebuked him. 24:30 And then the Bible says, "Take away the filthy garment 24:35 and then put on the right garment." 24:38 This is what God does with us. 24:39 So He doesn't clothe our sinfulness 24:42 with His righteousness. 24:43 We can't keep sinning against God 24:45 and think that we are in right standing with God 24:47 just because we confess. 24:48 Our confession was not genuine. Right. 24:50 So it's not a cover up. It's not a cover up. 24:52 It's a 100% transformation. It's a transformation. 24:55 It's not a modification, 24:56 it's an absolute new creature in Christ. 24:59 Now Romans 8 brings out a balancing point to it. 25:03 It says it right there in verses 1-4, 25:06 "There is therefore now no condemnation to them 25:09 which are in Christ Jesus." 25:10 When a man comes to Christ and he confesses his sins 25:12 and accepts the atonement made on his behalf 25:15 as his only hope in this life or the future life 25:17 that individual is pardoned, literally they are pardoned. 25:20 And God wipes away the foul record 25:22 and He lays upon them His robe of righteousness. 25:24 It is upon them and they are clean before God. 25:27 Well, "There is therefore now no condemnation to them 25:30 which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, 25:34 but after the Spirit." 25:35 We got to break that down. 25:36 What is it mean to walk after the spirit? 25:38 So watch this, "For the law of the Spirit of life 25:42 in Christ Jesus hath made me free 25:43 from the law of sin and death. 25:45 For what the law could not do, 25:47 in that it was weak through the flesh." 25:49 Us trying to keep God's law ought be righteous 25:51 in and of ourselves according to our own flesh, it says, 25:54 "God sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh 25:57 and for sin condemn sin in the flesh," 26:00 watch verse 4, 26:01 "That the righteousness of the law 26:04 might be fulfilled in us 26:07 who walk not after the flesh but after the spirit." 26:10 So what is it mean to walk after the spirit? 26:13 It means that the righteousness of God's law 26:16 can now be fulfilled in us. 26:20 That means the life that I live now will be a life 26:23 that is in harmony with God's law. 26:26 Or let me put it in another way, 26:28 in harmony with God's righteousness. 26:30 But it's God that's working in us 26:33 to willing to do of His good pleasure. 26:35 So true righteousness by faith is, 26:37 I love the word that you use, 'dependence'. 26:39 It's a total dependence of God not only for pardon 26:42 but also for power to live a new life. 26:44 At no point is the life is an individual's life 26:48 moving from submission. 26:50 It always stays in the state of submission before the Lord. 26:53 Lord, I need you for pardon 26:55 and I also need you for power to love the new life in Christ. 26:59 So, absolutely powerful, you know, 27:02 mind-blowing perspectives and points. 27:05 And this is essentially, it's almost like, 27:07 I'm re-living the moments when I first discovered this. 27:10 Because this is what gave me the freedom 27:14 to break away from the slavery of self-righteousness, 27:18 the slavery of earthly culture 27:20 and in my case hip-hop culture, 27:22 and opened me up to the truth and righteousness 27:26 that only God can provide. 27:27 So we understand, and this is important point 27:29 we don't want to overshadow it, 27:31 that the first step is admitting that we are wrong 27:34 and that's something that many of us struggle with 27:36 even today. 27:38 So we're gonna talk more about this 'cause this is not over... 27:41 No. Far from it. 27:42 By any stretch this is not over. 27:44 So when we look at this idea 27:45 that God has a plan for our problem 27:48 and that He wants to bring us out 27:50 of our sinful condition into His righteousness 27:54 and allow us to live the life that Christ essentially lived 27:58 while He was walking the earth is a blessing 28:00 that we all need to acknowledge. 28:01 And remember Proverbs 2:6, 28:03 "It is the Lord that gives wisdom 28:05 and out of His mouth comes knowledge and understating." 28:09 God bless. |
Revised 2017-02-24