Indispensable Grace

Let's pray and we'll launch into the word Father God.

Who wants to get to heaven and discover it's a

mean place to be?

I don't.

Who wants to bow down and worship you? If you're

an awful kind of God?

I don't.

And maybe there are others like me here. Father, help

us to see the truth of indispensable grace. That at

the Cross of Christ we have a window, the glorious

John says, is revealed so that we see Jesus. And

in seeing Jesus in the darkness of the cross crying out,

we see the love of God indispensable grace. Help us, Lord,

we want to live in a kingdom of kindness. Would

rather be there than here in Jesus' name Amen. Philip

Yancey once wrote that grace like water flows to the

lowest part. Perhaps he was inspired by the prophet Ezekiel's

vision of the Temple found in Ezekiel forty eight, where

the humble prophet of God saw the water of the

Holy Spirit flowing out from the threshold of the door

of the New Temple, not the Old Temple, the New Temple,

symbolizing the Christian Church, and as it flowed out he

saw that the stream got deeper and deeper as he

measured it, until he couldn't measure it anymore. Finally got

so deep that he ran along the banks, trying to

catch up with the flow of the rushing waters of

the stream as it flowed down to the Southern Sea,

the lowest Sea, the Dead Sea, the desert Sea, And

as it flowed, trees began to grow and thrive on

each side of the river, until the river flowed to

the Dead Sea, which is the lowest spot on planet Earth,

and in some ways the deadest spot on planet Earth.

And there the.

Dead Sea became a sea full of living things, swarming

with fish, trees, and lots of life all around the river.

For wherever the river goes to the lowest part, it

becomes a place of life. That is the river of life,

the Holy Spirit going out to people who live in

places in which there is no hope unless God finds

them where they're at. Christ taught his disciples to catch

fish in that kind of sea. We are not to

look for people in here, only we are to go

where people are. And in the darkest, deadest, lowest spot

on planet Earth, the river flows. The river flows as

the dawn was breaking on the shore of the Roman

sea of Tiberius. Christ disciples had struggled all night to

catch fish. They caught none. Christ had been resurrected, Peter

had denied Jesus in the Gospel of John. He had

gone back to his old trade of catching fish. And

as he was there, Jesus performs his last miracle in

John twenty one, which is the last miracle he ever performed.

He did it in his resurrected body. He was standing

on the shop or the sea, as the light was breaking,

and as the dawn of a new day was breaking

on the sea called Tiberius, symbolizing the dark dead sea

of the Roman world, of people who live without Christ,

fish in a sea who have to be pulled out

of the sea to live and be brought to Christ.

On the shore, he said, throw your net on the

other side, and of course they did, and they caught

one hundred and fifty three fish. As the net began

to break, they dragged the net to the shore. That

is a Pythagorean number of mathematical significance. When you line

up one hundred and fifty three dots one two, three,

four underneath, and so on. If you do it right,

you get an equal amount of dots on each side.

It forms a perfect triangle, and a triangle represents a

mountain and a mountain as a symbol of the Kingdom

of God. One hundred and fifty three fish in the

Sea of Tiberius represented the kingdom catch that would bring

in a future mountain, a future kingdom from the Roman world.

Christ taught his disciples to drag the net to the

sea to get them to him, And there on the

shore was a fire with a piece of bread and

a fish symbolizing the big fish who is Jesus. The

bread of life that was put on the altar, and

Christ here fed his disciples as they would feed his

sheep in the future.

So why did Jesus do this?

Why do he tell his disciples to go to the

Roman world and save it?

Why bother?

Because God's grace is indispensable grace, and God's grace is

not just fore here, it's for there. So we are

to be a missionary minded church. We are to care

about people in our community. We're to care about people

around the world. God loves the person who lives at

the lowest part on planet Earth. I can testify my

own experience. When I was thirteen to fifteen years of age,

I lived in a place I seldom talk about. I

went through life experiences I seldom try to remember, and

it was so dark, so awful. If it hadn't been

for the Holy Spirit that river reaching me and bringing

me to Fletcher Academy so I could find a way

out of it, I would not be alive today. I

know the Spirit goes where the river needs to go,

to the lowest part. God's grace, like fresh water flows

through the dark dead sea, to the lowest part to

bring dear people to the light, to the shore where

Jesus stands with a warm fire and spiritual food for them.

When the Holy Spirit was poured out of Pentecost, and

by the way, when the Holy Spirit's port at Pentecost,

we are told that a flood of blessing was unleashed

upon this world that would never be withdrawn to the

end of time. That the unfallen universe had looked to

see Jehovah rise and sweep away habits of the earth.

It was at that moment that Christ was born in

Bethlehem's manger, and Christ unleashed the indispensable grace of God

in his life and ministry. So when the Holy Spirit

was poured out at Pentecost because of Christ's death has

buris resurrection is life. The Holy Spirit moved upon the

Apostles and their early church to reach out to save

the Gentiles, first the Samaritans, and then the Gentiles, those awful, ugly,

evil pagan people that God wanted to bring in and

make them his church. It took a lot of growing

for those Jewish converts to break the boundaries of racism,

of tradition, to love and live for the world that

they didn't need to understand who they were. In Acts

fifteen three, it says so being sent on their way

by the Church, the Church sent people out to reach people.

They passed through Phoenician Samaria describing the conversion of the Gentiles,

and they caused great joy to all the brethren. Now

you know how you can tell someone who's born again

in the church. If they don't get happy at of baptism,

they're lost. When somebody comes to the waters of baptism

and they're baptized into Christ, we should be clapping our hands,

singing for joy, hugging that dear heart welcome them into

the family of God with no apologies. I don't know

about you, but I kind of like it when God

saves people who've been through awful things. Are you with me?

I mean, isn't that a good thing? That amazing grace

is amazing, sharing, giving, gracious kind of churches. That's what

the early church modeled. Who wants to come to a

church is only about itself. It's music, it's property, it's

belief system, it's accomplishments, and not about reaching others.

For Jesus verse four.

And when they had come to your Rusalem, they were

received by the church and the apostles and the elders,

and they reported all things that God had done with them.

And what did they do? They gave their testimony. We're

told in Revelation twelve that we overcome by the word

of our testimony and the blood of the Lamb. And

some people say, well, Pastor Mike, I don't know how

to share my faith. I can't give Bible studies. I

don't know prophecy very much. I frankly don't know the

Bible very much. I was baptized into Christ, but other

than that, don't know much. Well, that's not true. If

you have a story in which Christ warmed your heart,

God's grace found you, you can share that with your neighbor.

You can share that with a prayer with someone you

meet here and there. When I witness in my own

personal life, I'm not great at it. I just do

a simple thing that I've learned from my mother, who

had schizophrenia. She learned to share her faith in the

most umple kind of way. She prayed for people. She

would pray and her fears would go down as she

prayed for others and lifted their spirits. And I find

myself praying for people. It's awkward at times. In fact,

I thought to myself, some people must think I'm a

fool praying for them in public. I ran into Ben,

Where are you at here?

Ben? Ben?

Well, Ben, I'm glad you're in church. She ran into

Ben at Costco last week, and what do we do?

We bowed our heads in prayer. I ran into another

church member at Costco and that was Marcia d and

Tom and she's put her arm around me. She says, well,

we need to pray, no matter what they're thinking. And

it's just a glorious thing. But there are people you

can pray with that prayer will change their life and

you may be the only person that showed love for

them at.

That moment of time.

It doesn't have to be a big boisterous prayer where

you say, Oh Father, God of Heaven on earth.

You know, forget those kind of prayers.

Pray something like this, Dear Lord, help us we need

to have a good day to day. Thank you for

loving us, and help our lives to be right and

safe in Jesus' name, himen something simple, something sincere unscripted,

doesn't make you look too religious, so you're not virtue

signaling at the people. So sharing our faith is a

huge component of overcoming and we don't have to be

experts to give a testimony.

Verse four.

And when they had come to Jerusalem, they were received

by the church and the apostles and the elders, and

they reported all things that God had done with them.

Now one Sabbath here this year, we should dedicate entire

worship service to nothing but testimonies of what God has

done for you and for others, so that we can

do the same thing. But doing in the church is

not nearly as effective as doing your community. Doing it

in your workplace, sharing with someone that you meet who

has never heard of God's word. I go to place

as you wouldn't believe, and I love going there so

I can pray for people. At this point, the story

is positive in every way, optimistic, focused on outreach, the gospel,

holy spirit, kind of living friends, holy spirit filled people

sharing their testimony with others is exciting. However, this powerful

narrative of God's indispensable grace in the Book of Acts

chapter fifteen is suddenly.

Broken by the word but verse five.

But but some of the sect of the Pharisees. Now,

who are the Pharisees? Now, how's that song go? I

don't know if we could seeing it. I don't want

to be as sad, you see, because they're.

Sad you see. Is that how they do it? The

kids do it.

I don't want to be a Pharisee because they're not fair,

you see. It's something like that. Well, the word pharisee

doesn't mean you're not fair. It means the Greek word

for rizzo is related to it. But for us in

Hebrew it carries out it to set apart, to set apart.

And they believe they were set apart for the law,

not for God.

The law. The law was it. We are people of

the law.

And Paul claims that he's a pharisee in the Book

of Acts, set apart for Jesus. So I would you

like it would be a pharisee for Jesus. Raise your

hand here, set apart for Jesus. That's a good kind

of pharisee. But the sect of the pharisees Verus five,

who believed, in other words, they've been baptized, they come

into the church, but they still had this wrong kind

of thinking.

They rose up saying.

It is necessary to circumcise them and to command them.

That's these Jewish believers to keep the Law of Moses.

In other words, as if Paul wasn't telling them to

do what's right in their life. Now and elders came

together to consider this matter. Now, what I like about

the early churches. They didn't just ignore it. They met it,

they studied through it. They asked the Holy Spirit to

guide them. For a holy Spirit, new believer, friends, you

don't have to be told to keep the law of God.

I mean the joy of baptism. They want to obey God.

They want to live for God. But these Judaizers wanted

the Gentiles to keep the Law of Moses, to make

them Jewish converts, not Jesus converts. You see the difference,

to initiate them into their culture and to deny their

faith by doing it. We can do the same thing

in our church today. If we're not careful, We can

work so hard to make people converts to our culture,

to our traditions, and yes, even our church, that we

fail to lead them to Christ. God forbid that we

should glory in anything but the Cross of Christ and

our hero who hung up on the cross. The Advent message,

as defined prophetically in scripture, ends with one hundred and

forty four thousand, symbolic of the peoples of the earth

who walk up Mount Zion behind the Lamb. They follow

the Lamb wherever he goes, a Christ centered people. And

so it's possible to get so hung up on who

we are that we forget who Jesus is. In verse six,

the apostles and elders came together in a meeting to

sort it all out and to seek the help of

the Holy Spirit. A good thing that we've set aside. Kathy,

it is May twenty five, is I right for praying

for our church because we need the Holy Spirit to

reach other people. There are times when the church has

to meet together to sort things out in prayers, so

Eric can be dealt with, so hearts can unite, so

that narcissistic mindsets can be set aside, and selfless, humble

ministers of God can be elevated, and the mission of

the church can advance in love. When Bible believing leaders

meet to pray and study with the members of the

church seeking the Holy Spirit, God has a way of

showing the way. At this meeting, Paul and Barnabas brought

gentile believers uncircumcised and Peter, who had witnessed the conversion

baptism of the Roman centurion Cornelius, reverted to his old

ways because of the persuasive, perfectionistic reasoning of the Judaizers,

who had a proof text in Genesis seventeen about being

circumcised before Mount Sinai, but who ignored Genesis fifteen, where

Abraham was justified by faith before he was ever circumcised.

Paul and Romans four will talk about how they had

the wrong order. At this meeting. Paul and Barnabas brought

gentile believers who had not been circumcised.

It was a scandal. Peter reverted back.

Suddenly, racism, isolation from them would meet with them, a

sense of superiors over them. It was us and them, now,

not all of us. In the Book of Galatians, Paul

the convert, the unlikely apostle, the least of the apostles,

the man who had helped to murder Christians, who was

converted to Christ, who fled for his life, who went

to Saudi Arabia, to the very place where Sinai was,

and he received from Jesus Christ the Gospel as Moses

received the Law in person. He was there. He was

never accepted as an apostle in his life. In fact,

had they prayed for him in earnest, we are told

he would not have been beheaded. The church en massed

did not care for the apostle Paul in his lifetime.

He was an unlikely apostle, the least of all the apostles,

who worked harder than the rest, And he could not

deny the grace of God that met him on the

Damascus road. And so he stood up to Peter, who

had preached at Pentecost. He stood up to Peter, who

was a pillar in the church. Peter had opened the gospel,

given the keys of the Kingdom and evangelism, nots authoriting evangelism.

He had opened up the church in Jerusalem at Pentecost,

He'd opened up the church to Samaria, and then through

Cornelius to the Gentile world the Roman world. He was

given the keys. He rebuked him to his face because

he stood condemned. He had denied the gospel. And we

find the story of the struggle in the book of Galatians.

We find Paul recounting what happened to him and how

he stood alone to get the church back on track.

Galatians two, verses one through four. He says, then, after

fourteen years after his conversion, I went up again to

Jerusalem with barnabas he'd received the gospel from Jesus personally.

And I also took Titus with me, and I went

up by revelation. In other words, the Lord led him

to Jerusalem, and I communicated them that gospel which I

preach among the gentiles, but privately to those who are

reput reputation repute, lest by any means I might run

had run in vain Yet even Titus, who was with me,

being a Greek, was compelled to be circumcised. The gospel

of Godfriend, is not a road to slavery in life.

God does not call us to him to have a

heavy yoke placed on our neck that makes our lives miserable.

Here Paul respected the role of the world Church. He

respected the leadership of the Jerusalem Council. But he dug

in deep when hypocritical church leaders tried to corrupt the

apostles by denying the power of God's indispensable grace through lies,

to spying out their freedom in Christ verse four. And

this occurred because of false brethren secretly brought in. Now

that's possible to be in the church and not be

a true brother or sister, be a false brother who

secretly steals in, who spies out new believers, who targets

new believers to attack them in their walk with God.

That happened here, He says, who came in by death

to spy out our liberty which we have in Christ Jesus,

that they might bring us into bondage. Friend, God calls

the new believer to receive the yoke of Christ, not

the yoke of bondage, not the yoke of the church,

not the yoke of zealous church members, not the yoke

of slavery to a perfectionistic worldview, or any other kind

of ism that robs a person of the sheer joy

of knowing Jesus Christ as savior and Lord. Paul tells

us in Ephesians too, that by grace we have been

saved through faith, and not of works.

It is not of us, not our.

Doing, And grace, friend, is a gift, the kindness of God,

the disposition of God, wholly undeserved by us sinners, and

never earned, but much needed to be saved. I am

grateful today that I can stand in this pulp and

tell you I have been saved by grace through Christ.

I am being saved by grace the than Christ. And

when Jesus comes, I will be saved by grace in Christ.

And I get there not because I'm good.

I'm not.

I get there because Jesus is good in Christ. I

have a right now righteousness, good or not, for the

judgment day and every day of my life Ephesians two eight.

For by grace you have been saved through faith. Now

look at this Latin next part and that not of yourselves.

Now say that with me, and that not of yourselves.

It is what it is, the gift of God, not

of works, lest anyone should boast. Now you don't have

to explain that away in your life. You need to

surrender to that that is not cheap grace, that is

not letting sin have its way. That is the secret

to overcoming in your life. It's so easy to put

our works and our ideas in place of God's grace

and God's wisdom and God's kindness. You know, we have

all something in common in this church. We're awful people

without Jesus. With Jesus, we're saints. The difference is Jesus

not us. We can look really religious and do exactly

what they did. We can do it in our time too.

God's grace sets the soul free to sing, to rejoice

in liberty. I was sharing with some people today. I

came to church tired today. You ever come to church tired,

yopastor you know, if you come to church so tired

you have to sleep, go ahead and sleep. You're in church.

I'm fine with that, okay. But I came tired. But

I came to church and I didn't come to church

so I could look good. I came to church because

Jesus is good. Now, Friends, if you're in the condemnation

business in the church, you are not in the grace business,

which means you're unconverted. Gospel business is graceful living, relying

on God's grace Galatians five to one.

For freedom Christ has set us free.

Stand fast therefore, and do not submit again to a

yoke of slavery two Corinthians three seventeen. Now the Lord

is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is,

there is freedom. Galatians five thirteen. For you were called

the freedom brethren. Only do not use your freedom as

an opportunity for the flesh, but through love, and they

see that we're love. Through love, be servants of one another.

That's the response to the Gospel. In love, we serve

others in the church in the world. Friends, by the

power of the Holy Spirit, indispensable grace creates gracious people

in the church. If you're trying to manipulate your way

into favor in the church so you look important, get

a good job, you finally realize your goal of being appreciated,

you're in the wrong business. You're trying to virtue, signal

your way, to persuade others how righteous you look, or

how smart you may be, or to manipulate or domin you're.

Walking in the flesh. Its meaningless.

Christian experience, friends, holy spirit filled people live to serve

others in any capacity God calls them to do, be

it low or not. These false brethren and Glatians, toofore

stole in to steal Christian liberty and to spy on

those who were new believers, and to scandalize Paul and

Barnabas as teachers. Look at verse five, to whom we

did not yield submission even for an hour, that the

truth of the Gospel might continue with you Galatians two five,

verse six. But from these those who seemed to be something,

whatever they were, it makes no difference to me. God

shows personal favoritism.

To no man.

For those who seemed to be something added nothing to me.

Paul says, I'm not impressed. I may be an unpopular

apostle out there trying to say the gentiles, but it

doesn't matter to me what your position is. It doesn't

matter to me what your religious pedigree is. I am

not impressed if you have not embraced indispensable grace. Paul

is saying that I didn't need someone to qualify me

in my ministry in light of my bad record before

I was baptized into Christ, and I don't need someone

to approve of me now. I will not surrender the

truth of the Gospel to get a job to look important.

Paul affirmed that he would rather have the truth in Jesus,

in Jesus rightly understood, than the favor of false leaders

who don't have a clue what the gospel is, who

do not surrender to God's indispensable grace. Now, James, Peter,

and John, who were pillars in the church, James the

brother of Jesus. The other James had been beheaded. Peter,

who denied Christ, had preached at Pentecost, John the beloved apostle,

pillars in the faith. When they heard Paul, when they

saw the grace of God at work in Paul, they

knew that Paul's work was of Jesus to save the

gentiles by God's grace. And they cited with Paul Galatians

two nine. And when James Cephis. That's Peter and John

who seemed to be pillars perceived the grace that had

been given to me. They gave me and Barnabas the

right hand of fellowship, that we should go to the gentiles,

and they to the circumcised friend. Do you know how

you can tell a true Christian? Do you know how

you can spot a true Christian? By looking for grace

in their life, A person who is gracious, who cares

for others. A true Christian values God's grace because they're

a sinner, and because they value God's grace, they are

gracious for others like them as sinners, so they can

be saved. A true Christian is motivated by God's grace

as a love response. A true Christian seeks to be

gracious humble in their life by seeking to serve and

save others in kindness and humility. A true Christian will

never scandalize God's indispensable grace by acting like it's cheap grace,

diminishing it. They'll never act like they're so important that

somehow grace is added to by what they do. When

Peter and John and James the brother of Jesus saw

God's grace in the ministry of Paul and Barnabas, they

knew right then and there that the Holy Spirit had

done this thing. They didn't they they didn't need to

understand everything. They saw the fruit of it, and they

knew that God was at work in this. Paul and

Barnabas they bore the fruit of the spirit. In verse ten,

these three good leaders in the church told Paul and

Barnabas to remember the poor in their ministry. Now, I've

been to churches where if you're poor and you come

through the doors of the church, you feel like you're

you should leave pretty quick because everybody is so important.

Everybody looks like they look at you. Now, when I

became a Christian at the age of fifteen, I remember

going to Fletcher Academy with holy shoes, but they weren't

sanctified with holy water. They had holes in them. I

had a pair of pants that was holy, two holy pants,

but not because they were sanctified with holy water. I

took my dog Fag to Fletch Your Academy because he

was the only friend I had, and they let him

stay there.

I had left.

And whoever that boys Dean was back then, he did

a godly favor for me, and God led a dear

lady into my life, who never had children, who bought

me a coat so I wouldn't be cold that winter,

who made sure I had a good looking suit for

church because I looked pretty awful, and who wanted me

to be and feel as dignified as she felt. And

I tell you right now, I'm a Seventh da Avens

Christian to a large extent because of our wonderful biblical

belief system. I really value that. But I am mostly

a Seventh day Adventist because of Aileen and Norman Halleck,

who showed me the Gospel and the love of God

and the truth of God in life, loving, kind, gracious living.

I wouldn't be here if they had not just helped me.

How many of you can find someone in your life

like that. You wouldn't be in church if someone had

loved you and brought you in in verse ten, these

three good verse ten, they desire only that we should

remember the poor, the very thing which also I was

eager to do. So the apostles said, what would Jesus do? Hey,

whenever you do, don't forget the poor. Don't forget the poor,

nor should we. At this point, some of those perfectionistic

judaizers persuaded Peter to compromise the gospel Galatians two to eleven.

And here's where the crisis hit.

Now.

When Peter had come to Antioch, Paul says, I stood

him to his face because he was to be blamed.

For before certain men came from James, he would eat

with the Gentiles, but when they came, he withdrew and

separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision. And

the rest of the Jews also played the hypocrite with him,

so that even Arnabus was carried away with their hypocrisy.

Hypocrisy is like a river going in the wrong direction.

It does not go down, it goes up. It's like

a geyser. Hypocrisy is the wrong kind of river. Grace,

like water, flows to the lowest part. Hypocrisy, like a geyser,

shoots up to the sky. Hypocrisy is always about I,

me and Mi, and never about Jesus and others. Christ said,

by their fruits you will know them. Paul was looking hard,

and he saw the problem. He recognized it. Christ had

given him the gospel in Arabia. He knew what it was,

and this was not the gospel, and then he stood

up to the challenge with the argument of God's indispensable

grace Galatians two fourteen. But when I saw that they

were not straightforward about the truth of the Gospel, I

said to Peter before them, all, if you, being a Jew,

live in the manner of gentiles and not as Jews,

why do you compel gentiles to live as Jews? We

who are Jews by nature and not sinners of the gentiles,

say they call the gentile sinners, and they call themselves

Jews Verse ten.

Knowing that a man is.

Not justified by the works of the law, but by

faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ,

Jesus that we might be justified by faith in Christ,

and not by the works of the law. And then

he says this. He says the same thing in Romans

three twenty. For by the works of the law, no

flesh shall be justified. And what Paul is saying is this.

He's not saying the law is done away with as

a moral standard. He's saying is that the law is

not your savior. And if you've made circumcision your savior,

you don't have Jesus anymore. And that's what they were doing.

Verse twenty introduces Paul's confession of Jesus Christ as primary

in his celebration of God's grace through the Cross of

Christ Galatians two twenty. He says, I have been crucified

with Christ. It's no longer I who live, but Christ

lives in me. And he says the life I live,

which I now live in the flesh, I live by

faith in the Son of God, who loved me he

gave himself from me. I do not set aside the

grace of God, which is really the true meaning of

God's moral law. For if righteousness comes through the law,

he means law keeping, then Christ died in vain. You see,

none of us have lived a perfect life. It only

takes one sin to keep us out of heaven. We

all have rotten records, bankrupt for the judgment day, the

Great Prophet Daniels says that at the end of the

seventy weeks the forty nine of year prophecy, that the

Messiah would bring in an everlasting righteousness, a right now righteousness,

good enough for the judgment day, good enough for every

day of your life, and good enough when you stand

before God Almighty at the second coming Christ, our righteousness

and friend. When you rely on you your own works

to be saved, you have set aside the grace of

God and the Gospel of God.

For you.

Christ has died in vain, dear heart, God's grace is

indispensable for salvation. We worship a kind, gracious God. God's

kindness is God's grace hanging on the cross for you.

You want to see the deepest principles of the law

of God, the moral law, justice, and mercy. Kiss When

Christ said, Father forgive them, they know not what they do.

And if your theology is so bad you have to

believe the Father didn't forgive them, then you got the

wrong view.

He did.

God in Christ, Paul says, forgave us at the cross

of Christ. In Christ, the forgiveness you need in your

life was given on the cross of Christ. And when

you rely on anything but God's grace for your acceptance

with God, God, your victory over sin, your growth is

a Christian because we need God for all of that.

If you rely on anything but God's grace, if you

rely on anything for your future perfection other than God's

grace for you, it's null and void.

It means nothing.

Why because you are confessing that jesus death on the

cross was not good enough for you. This is the

ugly problem with final generation theology that finds its face

in our own movement at this time, in certain places,

not everywhere.

You know.

One of the challenges facing our movement is libertine living.

We just live like the devil, and you say, love, love, love.

That's bankrupt religion. But you see on the other side

is this idea that somehow we're so important, we're the

ciner of the universe, so much that we're going to

vindicate God's character before the universe. So the great controverse

and can be one is if Jesus didn't get it

done at the cross, is if it is finished, didn't

mean much at the cross, as if him after making

a purification for sins in Hebrews, when he set down

at the right hand of God didn't matter. Now, it's

true God purifies us, that's true. But friends, it flows

out of a right now righteousness and everlasting righteousness.

In the Book of Daniel.

That God had done for us, it's only because Jesus

did it for us we can grow. We have the

umbrella of acceptance in the Cross of Christ. That allows us,

at the moment of raw faith, to be accepted by

the warmth of God, to receive the Holy Spirit, and

to live for God without a hammer over our head.

That's the kind of life that Jesus has brought to us.

Christ in us the hope of glory, but Christ for

us on the Cross. So when you rely on anything

but God's grace, you've really lost it all. It's the

Judaizer's false gospel all over again. If we do this

that was reinvented at the Council of Trent. The Council

of Trent opposed the Gospel of the Reformation by teaching

acceptance comes once you have been sanctified, not as you

accept Christ by faith.

We repudiate that.

As seventh, the Avidist Christians, based on scripture, the spirit

of Prophecy reputes it too, repudiates it. So that's how

religious people act. Sometimes we just fall into the same problems.

I want to read from Sister White Manuscript released twelve.

Number nine ninety nine.

By his death, Christ perfected forever them that are sanctified.

Do you see what you're saying there? You want to

what by his death Christ, What come on, read it loud,

perfected forever.

Them that are sanctified.

This enabled him to proclaim with a triumphant voice on

the Cross of Calvary, it is finished.

Ellen G.

White, Manuscript one one, eighteen ninety seven. Now I've read

John Calvin, I've read John Wesley, I've read the great Reformers.

I'm telling you this woman is the greatest reformer since

the Reformers. But she unifies law and gospel in such

a dramatic, brilliant way.

It has to come from God, she says.

The emancipation papers of our race were signed by the

blood of the Son of God, and a way was

open for the message of hope and mercy to be

carried to the ends of the earth. Now whoever will

may reach forth and take hold of God's hand and

make peace with him, and they shall make peace. The

heathen are no longer to be wrapped in midnight superstition.

The gloom is to appear before the bright beams of

the sun of righteousness. Bible Commentary, Volume five, page one

point one three three. She writes this, when the sinner

reaches the cross and looks upon the one who died

to save him, he may rejoice with fullness of joy

for his sins our part, and kneeling at the cross.

He has reached the highest place to which man can attain.

The light of the knowledge of the glory of God

has revealed in the face of Jesus Christ, and the

words of pardon are spoken. Live, O you, guilty sinner, Live,

Your repentance is accepted, for I have found a ransom.

Peter quickly changed his frame of mind and heart. When

Paul lifted up the cross of Christ and the indispensable

grace of Christ, his heart was confronted by the truth again.

He realized he'd been led astray, and the other apostles

joined with him of significance. Paul rebuked him forthrightly, because

he had turned his back on God's amazing grace by

showing partiality to the Jews and not sitting with the

Gentiles and treating these new believers like second class human beings.

That was no place for that. In the Gospel, the

man who got duped by the Judaizers suddenly got corrected

by a fellow prophet, a fellow apostle, the last of

all the apostles called like him by Jesus on the

Damascus Road. After all of this dispute and Acts fifteen,

where they had to sort it out, they had to

pray figure it out, Peter stood up and he repeated

the very words of Paul.

Who had rebuked him, to his face, sternly in love.

Because he had compromised the gospel of God's indispensable grace.

Peter may have always been the clearest thinker. In fact,

he says, some things in Paul are hard to understand.

He wasn't the brightest candle in the room, but he

was sure a sincere saint and soul.

And once he.

Got it clear in his head, he became the most

eloquent preacher and teacher and share of the gospel.

Like he was at Pentecost.

And when he finally got it right, he's the one

who spoke up and he sees the truth of indispensable grace.

Acts fifteen, verse seven. And when there had been much dispute,

Peter wrote up and said to them, men and brethren,

now he's not calling them unbelievers anymore. Brethren, you know

that a good while ago God chose among us that

by my mouth the gentiles should hear the word of

the Gospel, and believe he's referring to Cornelius the Centurion

and others for saate. So God, who knows the heart,

acknowledged them by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as

he did to us, and made no distinction between us

and them, purifying their hearts. How now you want to

I want to be perfect when Jesus come, Are you

with me?

I do?

I don't want to be in living in sin? How

are our hearts purified?

Here?

By faith? Faith in the indispensable grace of God. He

goes on to say, friends, if you want perfection and

a purified heart, you can only get it through these

things by faith, justification, by faith, and the grace of

God to pardon and to cl ends you, to lead you,

and finally to perfect you. It is Christ in you

the hope of glory, not you Verse ten. Now, therefore,

why do you test God by putting a yoke on

the neck of the disciples? Peter says, which neither our

fathers nor we were able to bear Verse eleven. But

we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,

we shall be saved in the.

Same manner as they now.

The problem with final generation of theology is that it's

a gospel that was not preached in the first century.

It's not the Everlasting Gospel. It's not the one the

reformers taught, which was highly affirmed by the special Messenger

of God to our movement. It's not the one you'll

read about in Romans. It's not in First and Second Corinthians.

It's not in Galatians or Ephesians.

You have to have a.

Theology to make it happen. Friend, God doesn't need a

new gospel. The first Angel's message is the ever lasting Gospel.

It's the one the prophets predicting the Old Testament that

the New Testament affirmed. And we don't add to that

at the time of the end. We don't create something

smarter than when Paul was proclaiming at the Jerusalem Council.

In our arrogance, we can be laid a seaIn wrong

in our theology of Christ. Right on the day that

we should worship and miss the truth. We must never

go down that road. Peter got it right with Paul

and Barnabas that day. James and John was there that

we are saved by the kindness, the grace and the

love of God as a gift to be received by faith.

God's indispensable grace is a glorious thing, wonderful gift, because grace,

like water, flows to the lowest part. Dear heart, Never

turn your back on God's indispensable grace in your life.

Never turn your back on the Gospel, never turn your

back on Jesus. As we stand for closing prayer, I

just want to ask you a very simple question. If

you want to rededicate your life to Christ. As you

stand there, raise your hand to heaven, said Lord, I

want to rededicate my life to Christ. I want I

don't want a righteousness based on works of law, even

though the law as a moral standard, the Ten Commandment

is not done away with. It's ours. It's it's a

moral standard. But and honestly, you say I've messed up.

I need Jesus. I need to rely on Christ to

my life. I'm raising my hand because that's my confession today.

And I also want to ask you if you need

the help of the Holy Spirit. You want Jesus to

do for you what you you can't do for yourself.

You just have been trying hard and you can't pull

it off, and you need to start over the Lord,

I'm goanna raise both hands to Heaven for me because

that's what I need. That's what we need today. And

there could be there could be someone here who needs

to be baptized. You've heard the gospel, but you've never

been baptized into Christ. And if that's the case, John

and Mervin, come on up here are elders. Elder Mervin

and Elder John. Just stand with me here. If you

know you need to enter the waters of baptism because

of the Gospel for Christ, we will help you. But

raise your hand high if that is the case. Okay,

we're preparing people for baptism as we speak. But I

don't want to leave anyone out today. Let's pray. Let's pray,

and we'll end our service today and let's talk.

Gentlemen.

Why don't we come forward here and form a circle

of these dear people and all of us here together,

let's pray.

Father.

We are here today because of the Gospel of kindness,

of indispensable grace. The preacher is not any better than

anybody else here. We're all a mess without Jesus. So Lord,

may we live forever. We are living at the time

of the end. As we pray today this weekend, leaders

in our country seek to dedicate our country to God.

That's a good thing, that's not a bad thing. But Lord,

based on Bible prophecy, we know where it's going that

one day this country will be an image to the beast,

the medieval beast from the sea, and religious freedom will

die and the conscience will be forced. Lord, we don't

want any kind of religion like that in our church

to where we try to pressure people or force anybody.

So Lord, bless every one of these dear people. May

they know that Christ, their righteousness is good enough for

the judgment day. May they not be foolhardy with that

to think they can do whatever they want to do.

They can't, and remain in Christ. But made the power

of the One who saves them keep them with the

right now righteousness good enough for the deat judgment day.

Thank you for hearing this prayer. Thank you Jesus and

the heaving Sanctuary for praying for us along these lines.

And we surrender that in Jesus' name. Bless everyone in

Jesus name.

Amen. Amen,