Clash of the Covenants: A Deeper Exploration into the Old and New Testaments

This is righteousness. It's a gift. And Jesus has given it to you. He has given to you his

righteousness. He has imparted and imputed his righteousness to you. When God the Father

looks at you, He sees the righteousness of Jesus on you. When you talk to God the Father,

He hears you as though it's Jesus talking to Him. So who's more righteous? You or Jesus?

The same!

Listen to today's teaching, remember that you are deeply loved by God, that you are surrounded

by His grace, and that He has a real hope and a future for you.

We're beginning a new series today, Clash of the Covenants, and we're going to slow marinate,

slow cook. I did not know that moving to Long Island meant that I was obligated. Every man I

talk to, it seems that I'm under obligation to get a very expensive grill or a slow cooker,

a smoker. I guess that's, and I'm thinking it's that time, mid-40s, suburb and dad,

you can go one of two ways, no it's true, you can really become a World War II history buff

or you can really get into smoking. Smoking your meats. So you'll see, that's what happens.

And I've learned enough about World War II from my granddad, so I'm going the slow cooking

variety, and we're going to slow cook over the course of eight weeks, new covenant,

Christianity and new covenant realities, because after all we do live under the new covenant,

so we should learn the principles of the new covenant, shouldn't we? How will we really go

on to experience the fullness of what Jesus has for us and experience true Christianity if we

don't understand the covenant that we're operating under? And we're going to be going through

Galatians because Paul was addressing a problem, and the problem was the Galatian church mixing

covenants. They were mixing the old covenant with the new, interestingly enough,

that wasn't just the first century phenomenon to this day, because the new covenant is so radical,

in fact Paul says it's hard to understand, he even calls it a mystery, and it's just so mind-blowing

and it's so counterintuitive to everything from how we were raised by our parents, how we were

raised by society, the whole system we grew up in, it's counterintuitive to that, so it doesn't

really click unless we get enough word in us and then the Holy Spirit can work with that word,

and then he apocalyptic, he pulls back the curtain and he reveals the truth of grace,

and the truth of living under grace. So people are still mixing, and the word of the Lord is

stop mixing, stop taking a little bit of the old covenant, a little bit of the new putting it

together and coming up with your own covenant, which is how I believe the vast majority of the church

lives, but we're going to live under the fullness of the new, amen. So we're going to begin Galatians,

and there's no better way to begin Galatians than by turning to the book of Luke. Amen. Let's go to

the book of Luke, chapter 9, verse 51. Now it came to pass when the time had come for him to be

Luke 9:51

received up, that he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem, this is speaking of Jesus,

and they sent messengers before his face and as they went they entered a village of the Samaritans

to prepare for him, but they did not receive him because his face was set for the journey to Jerusalem,

so note that Jesus was rejected. He was rejected even before the cross. Sometimes the

gospels read like a highlight reel from miracle to miracle to miracle, but if you just look a little

bit deeper you'll see that salt and pepper throughout the highlight reel is a lot of rejection.

So don't feel bad if ever you're rejected. He said the servant is not above his master, they hated

me, they'll hate you. So he gets rejected by the Samaritans because he was on his way to Jerusalem,

and when his disciples James and John saw this they said, Lord do you want us to command fire

to come down from heaven and consume them just as Elijah did? LOL right? Wow. What an extreme thought

to have, but these were old covenant people. All they knew was the old covenant, and by the way this

is how God dealt with sin under the old covenant. When you were judged it wasn't a slap on the wrist,

it was the ground splitting open and swallowing you up, it was fire from heaven, it was pestilence,

it was a plague, there was one verdict guilty and the punishment was death. The wages of sin is death,

that's the old covenant, and they're just thinking and talking in line with what they bred and

with what they've experienced living under the old covenant. Here's what Jesus says, but he turned

and rebuked them and said, you do not know what manner of spirit you are of. You don't know that

I'm bringing in a new spirit, I'm bringing in a new covenant, I'm bringing in a new dispensation,

a different set of principles that this whole world, the entirety of the world, will be under,

you're of a different spirit, you're of an old covenant spirit. You know where else you'll see

Jesus saying something similar with the woman at the well who happened to be a Samaritan?

They were upset with him with Jesus here because he was going to Jerusalem and they didn't want

to go to Jerusalem. The woman at the well says, which mountain should we worship at? Did you say

worship at this mountain? She was talking about Sinai, right at Jerusalem. But we worship at this

mountain. So which one is it? See she's thinking all physical, all natural. We wish we worship,

which mountain? And it goes, listen dear, the day is coming, you'll neither worship at this mountain

or that mountain, but the true worshipers will worship me in spirit and in truth. What's he saying?

Under the new covenant empowered by the Holy Spirit, in spirit and in truth.

So before we begin with Galatians, I'm just going to ask Pastor James to come up

and show you what I believe is one of the most important pages in the entire Bible,

something that I really want you to read over and over again and really let this sink down deep

into your spirit. These pages are hidden in the Bible. Many of you have never taken a good long

look and ponder the significance of them. Right at the end of Malachi, excuse me for the Italian

Americans, Malachi. Sandwiched in between the last page of Malachi and the first page of Matthew,

this is a blank page. You ever wonder what's happening here? There is a change. We're moving from

old covenant to new covenant and you cannot mix the two together. Pick one, pick one and live in

that one. Now, before you make your choice, let me explain the difference between the covenants

under the old covenant which I said earlier was a dispensation. Don't get lost in a fancy theological

term. A dispensation simply means a system of order. Picture big umbrella over all of humanity

and this is how underneath that umbrella, under that particular dispensation, these are the

principles. This is how God will relate to man. Under the old covenant umbrella, under the old

covenant system of order, under the old covenant dispensation, man endeavored to get approval from God,

man endeavored to be declared righteous based on their own self effort, their own self discipline,

their own law keeping their own good behavior. Notice I said man endeavored to be made righteous.

Man was never made righteous. Impossible. Couldn't be made righteous through his own self effort.

Why? Because when you break the law in just one part, you're guilty of breaking the entirety of

the law. There is no A minus on the test. You either get an A or an F and if you just mess up

once, what a terrible burden. You mess up once, you're guilty of breaking the entirety of the law,

your sinner. Under the new covenant, that's another dispensation, another umbrella. Under the new

covenant, your declared righteous, which means you have right standing with God, not based on your

self effort, not based on your good behavior, not based on you trying to cross every T and not

every I, but it's all based not on what you do, but on what Jesus has already done for you. Hallelujah.

Amen. And under the new covenant, Jesus kept the entirety of the law fully and perfectly.

He got an A plus on the test. And when you say Jesus, I receive you to be my Lord and my Savior,

He takes your name, crosses his out, he races it on the A plus paper, puts your name in and says,

go ahead, hand this into your parents. Hand, show this to your Father. He'll be real proud.

He did all the work kept the law perfectly and then passed the benefit over to you if you'll

receive it by faith and only look to him. And when you only look to him, you cannot add anything to

his already finished work. It's Jesus plus nothing equals everything. Religion then comes in and says,

well, Jesus plus, I mean, we got to get some stuff out of you. So Jesus plus regular church

attendance, Jesus plus getting baptized, Jesus plus tithing. No, all those things are good things,

but they don't help as far as your salvation is concerned. Your salvation is free. And when

you really understand the significance of your salvation, nobody has to wag a finger at you telling

you what you need to do. You from the inside out are empowered. It's not just that you want to live

pleasing to the Lord, but now you're empowered to live pleasing to the Lord. See the law, it places

a demand on people. Touch not, taste not, you cannot, but you never get the power to fulfill the

obligation of the law. So you're always frustrated, which is why people want to stay away from church.

I don't blame them. They think it's an epicenter of frustration. I'm just going to be told a bunch of

things that I can't do. I can't fulfill. And frankly, I don't want to. So peace out. I'm out of there.

When real new covenant Christianity is the exact opposite. So let's just begin Galatians by noting

there is a difference between the covenants. Why? Because the cross of Jesus changed everything.

Jesus changed everything. John the Baptist said, behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of

the world. That whole sin problem that was in the world. Jesus on the cross took it away.

And it's because of his blood that we could live under a covenant, under a dispensation,

not of the law, but of grace. Amen. Let's begin in Galatians 1. Martin Luther used the

call Galatians by the name of his wife because he said, I'm married to it. I wouldn't, I mean it's

cool move on Martin Luther, but I know other human or epistle or entity shall be called it by

thy name. But you're showing how much it meant to him. It's been called the declaration of

independence of Christian liberty. So let's begin in Galatians 1 and we're going to go verse by verse

smashing the idols of legalism, the idols of pride

and receiving the free gift of righteousness. Paul and Apostle not for men or through man,

but through Jesus Christ and God the Father who raised him from the dead and all the brethren who

are with me to the churches of Galatia. Grace, he outlines with that one word the theme of the

entire epistle is going to be grace, grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord

Jesus Christ who gave himself for our sins that he might deliver us from this present evil age.

Note that you're delivered from the power of darkness, not the presence of darkness.

You're delivered out of the power of this evil age, but you're still living in an evil age.

Psalm 23, he prepares a table before you in the presence of your enemies. You're going to be

feasting, but not too far is the enemies of God looking on. By the way, when the Psalms 23 says,

when Psalms 23 says, he prepares a table before you in the presence of my enemies. This is

where it's good to know the difference between the old and your covenant. Under the old, David is

writing it, he's literally talking about other military people who were after his life.

I mean, it could mean that and it can still mean that, but everything under the old covenant was

physical, under the new covenant in spiritual. So when you read Psalm 23, don't think about your

coworker who you think is your enemy and you're praying, oh God, cause me to eat lavishly

and they'll just watch. No, for us, under the new covenant, it's something about the enemies of

God, demonic spirits. And yes, they can operate through people, but we're not trying to stick it to

somebody or going to war with people. We're eating lavishly, but the demonic spirits are still

looking on because it's not fully their time yet. Shadrach, Misha, I can abend to go. God didn't

deliver them from the furnace. He delivered them from the fire in the furnace. You're delivered from

the power of your enemies, but not from the presence of your enemies. Incidentally, this is why it's

so important for us to go through this series and really understand the difference of the covenants.

Another example is, and there's many, many scriptures like this in the Old Testament.

Here's one, the Lord God is a sun and shield. The Lord will give grace and glory. No good thing will

he withhold from those who walk uprightly. Phenomenal verse, right? I have a problem with it though.

If I don't understand grace, I'm going to see that the fulfillment of that verse is conditional

on me walking uprightly. So I really need a breakthrough. I need the Lord and I find this beautiful

verse so generous. The Lord will give grace and glory. By the way, when it says glory in that verse,

what do you think of? Somebody there shouted money.

He had the hoodie on and everything. And then like a Jedi movie, he removes the hoodie.

That was me. He shouted money. Can you believe that we have such carnal Christians at City Life

Church. So, why is it always about money? He's right. Just like he was about the type of wood

it in Noah's Ark and corrected me and called it. The word glory, we often mean like the

glories of God. And what do you think of like golden streams and dust and it can mean the

anointing. But the first juice of the word glory was heavy laden. Abraham had so much stuff

that he put the kabode, the heaviness of his treasures on the beast of burden. And many times

that word glory actually means material provision and sustenance. The Lord will give grace and glory.

No good thing will he withhold from those who walk uprightly. And now I read that and I immediately

realize, oh, that's based on my behavior. I have to be, well, what does that mean walk uprightly?

Right? How are you really going to have confidence and claim that verse as your own when there's

that little part in the end? Those who walk uprightly? Well, how uprightly? I mean, if I compare myself

to Hitler, I walk uprightly. If I compare myself to those carnal Christians, I know I walk uprightly.

But if I compare myself to Jesus, I'm not walking uprightly. So does that mean I miss it? Can I

still claim it? Well, I've been pretty good this week. But I didn't read the Bible like I think

I should. How much is enough anyway? Did I pray enough? Did I witness enough? And all these

insecurities come in and you're robbed of the promise, right? That's how it was under the old covenant.

If you read that and you don't understand the power of the blood of Jesus and you go,

well, that's me. I walk uprightly because I'm all that. You just missed it. All those verses

cause you to look out of yourself and look to a savior. So under the new covenant, you have been

made upright. You have been declared righteous. You have right standing with God. So whenever you

read throughout the Old Testament, these conditional promises, there's so many promises to the righteous,

to the one who walks uprightly. That's not for us to say, oh, well, this week I can't claim that.

It's been a bad week and I really exploded on that person on the LIE and I gesticulated to them

and sign language if you know what I mean. And so I really... I didn't do that. I'm just giving

examples here. Just like three people going, this isn't confession therapy time for me. I'm just

giving examples. But you read that and you say, God, I don't walk uprightly. In and of myself,

I lack. But because of you, Jesus, you have made me righteous. You have forever cemented me in the

upright before God position. All my sins, all your sins past, present and future have been taken out

of the way. Now guess what you have? Confidence. And that's a major theme of grace, boldness.

That's why the Bible says the righteous are as bold as a lie in. Now if you're looking at yourself,

you're not going to be too bold unless you're really given over to pride. And there are some people,

they're so blinded, all they can see is the good things in themselves and the bad in everyone else.

And they think that in and of themselves, they're righteous. They're not. Jesus showed up,

he'd exposed that in a second. But no, we're to not look at ourselves, we look to Jesus. And that's

how the promise is fulfilled. Hallelujah. According to the will of our God and Father, verse five,

to whom be glory forever and ever, amen. Verse six. He says,

I marvel that you were turning away so soon from him.

What was happening in this Galatian church? Because right now this is Paul and he's not happy.

He's upset. You know what's missing? In the first five verses, we're already in verse six.

We're missing charismatic, socially correct Paul, who comes in and when he writes a letter,

all the other letters, he first praises them. He tells them how good they're doing. You can feel his

affection for them. He doesn't, he skips all that and he's upset. He's upset. He's going, you're

turning, not from a doctrine, not from a teaching, you're turning away from him. So what was happening

to the Galatians? Well, this group called the Judaizers had snuck in. Imagine it's the first

century. The apostle Paul is turning the whole world upside down with the gospel. And this

Aryan Galatia got saved. And then Paul goes on another missionary journey. While Paul is gone,

Judaizers snuck in. And you know what their message was? It's good that you believe in Jesus.

As the Messiah, as the Son of God, we do too. But in order for you to be saved,

you have to keep the entirety of the living of the law. In fact, the men have to be circumcised

because they were all not Jewish people who became Christian, the men. So they're putting them

back under the law. What are they doing? They're mixing the covenants.

And Paul says, you're not just turning away from a teaching. You're turning away from Jesus.

The moment you mix covenants, you're turning away from Jesus. Why? Because Jesus is grace.

Grace is not a doctrine. It's not a teaching. It's the very person of Jesus.

The Bible says that the law was given. It came by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.

And under the old covenant dispensation, you had to work to be approved unto God,

under the new covenant dispensation or the new covenant of His grace. Jesus did all the work

and transferred the benefit over to you. I marvel that you are turning away so soon from Him

who called you in the grace of Christ to a different gospel. Hey, let me just say this.

Before you think, wow, this sounds like a first century problem. And why is this so important to

pastor? Because I don't really see the likelihood of a group of Judaizers coming in to city lights

signing up for our life groups and slowly, because it says they crept in unawares slowly trying

to bring mixture. No, we don't have Judaizers as a group of people today, but you have bad teachers,

bad preachers. You have your own voice. You have Hassatan Satan, the accuser of the brethren.

And what he's doing in your life over time is trying to get you to mix the covenants,

because the moment you mix the covenants, you turn away from him who called you in the grace of

Christ. And the power of the new covenant is robbed from you even if you mix a little bit.

The name of this series is Clash of the Covenants. I could add another title. No,

mixture. I'm on 100 percent pure new covenant grace. I don't need it sprinkled with a bit of the

law. Amen. And one of the biggest culprits of sprinkling a little bit of the law onto grace are

pastors, because they don't trust the Holy Spirit and people. They don't trust the word of God.

They don't trust the very strength of the new covenant to actually keep people doing what they're

supposed to be doing. So they say things like, if you don't come every Sunday,

you might be cursed. You might get punished. All these manipulative tactics. If you sin,

God will punish you. If you don't have God will punish you.

As though you were living under the old covenant, but the cross of Jesus changed everything.

If God has already thoroughly punished your sin in the person of Jesus on the cross

and how much more punishment is left for you. This is wild, isn't it?

Now, when you start preaching grace as it's meant to be preached, obviously some thoughts are

going to come up and say, and they're going to go something like this. That means I can just do

whatever I want. Listen, if you're serving God and abstaining for sin from sin because you're trying

to avoid the threat of retribution or punishment, you're doing Christianity wrong. By the way,

that can't last forever. You'll hold on tight for a little bit, maybe a few weeks, maybe a few

months, maybe you'll even make it for years. I know some people that made it for years. There's

no fun to be around them. They're off. They're off. Because then you're either full of pride

or you're upset because you're seeing other people get blessed, but they're not as religious and

bound up as you and then the big brother syndrome comes up and you're upset and you try to get them

to do what you're doing to score points with God. You went to an R-rated movie I have,

since 1982. And all these legalistic things. Listen, listen, Martin Lloyd Jones, phenomenal,

phenomenal man of God, teacher of the word was at Westminster Chapel in the 50s. Great revelation

came through him. He said this, you're not preaching grace correctly until people accuse you of

antinomianism, which is a total disregard for God's moral law. I'm not preaching disregard

for God's moral law, but some people should accuse me of it. You know why? They accused

Paul of that. And whenever you preach grace people who don't understand the heart of the new covenant

will accuse you of doing just that. The heart of the new covenant is so much better than the old.

Under the old you didn't send or you didn't send to avoid punishment. Under the new it's because

of your love of God, not because you're trying to avoid punishment and love will carry you through

your entire life and you're empowered by the Holy Spirit. The law is like a giant sign that says

keep off the grass. But the new covenant gives you a love for the sidewalk. Hallelujah.

And if you're stuck in some sin pattern right now, I'll tell you what your solution isn't,

trying much harder. I'll tell you what your solution definitely isn't. Me, wagon,

mind, dicks, finger, and saying, you gotta be a little holy. You gotta do right. Be better.

This is why so many pastors, first they start with the lie.

Most pastors, I shouldn't say most, but a lot. Too many are angry, they're bitter,

they don't start off that way, but the moment they approach their fifties, they just have like

the old man with the get off my lawn syndrome. Because they put everybody else under the law,

they're under the law, they're being crushed by the law.

Wagon their fingers? No. I'm not going to change your behavior by just messing with you and telling

you because I could be saying, stop sinning. What are you doing? You're wrecking your life and you're

going, I know. Well, stop it. And your response is, I can't. How? But when I say look to Jesus,

dive into the cross, dive into his substitutionary death, meditate on the blood,

how the blood has removed your sin, meditate on new creation realities.

Most people think when they're born again, that's like the Lord taking an old pig,

putting it in a dress and slapping some makeup on it. Oh, isn't she pretty?

That's religion. Religion does that. Takes an old pig, lipstick, fake lashes, puts a nice dress

and goes, no, it's still an anchor. God completely put a brand new spirit in you,

a species of being that never existed before. You're sinless, recreated in the image of Jesus.

And as you meditate on this and this can be a process, this can take time.

When you come up out of the world or through life, you've opened some windows and doors to the

enemy. Some sins will put their hook in you. How does that hook get removed? Some sins, it's

quick. Other sins take time. But the solution is always the same. It's the person of Jesus

and what he did for you at the cross and it's you living under the new covenant. That means you're

not trusting in yourself. You're trusting in him. You'll notice under the, to fulfill the law,

there's a lot of those hyphenated sins, self effort, self discipline, self, self,

self dash, self dash. The problem is that it's always on us and we have a part in a role to play.

The problem is also is that we don't know how to play it. We always fall on our face and come

up short under the new covenant. Jesus has taken the weak link out of the way. You know what the

weak link was? Us. And now he's in our place forever holding the new covenant together on our

behalf. Woo! This is why the gospel is called Good News. And can you believe it? They were

turning away from that. Yes, I can believe it. People turn away from it every day. Today, we're sick.

No, really, the way we were raised, the way society taught us, we have this sickness called pride.

Grace is so offensive because it misses your pride up because you don't get to say, I hope to save

you around. You don't get to boast and brag about any contribution to your salvation. You were

desperate, you were shipwrecked, you were marooned on an island, you had no food, you had no covering,

you were naked. And Jesus came and rescued you. You had nothing to do with it. And so it's offensive

because it strips you of your pride. And it just causes you to fall to your knees and go,

thank you. Thank you. You're my savior. You saved me off that island. Hallelujah. So he's saying I'm

marvel that you are turning away so soon from him who called you in the grace of Christ to a

different gospel, which is not another. He's using this language specifically, that word for another.

In the Greek, it means another of the same kind. Like if I said I was in my kitchen and I was

eating a honey crisp apple and I liked it so much, I went and got another, another what? Another

apple of the same kind, another honey crisp. Paul is saying this gospel of mixture, it's not even

another. It's a different gospel. It's completely different. It's a clone and it's a perversion,

which is not another, but there are some who trouble you and want to pervert the gospel of Christ.

So he calls mixing the covenants of perversion. What's a perversion? We usually think of it with a

sexual connotation like that pervert. The word pervert, it means to distort. That's the original

meaning. Like a funhouse mirror that's distorted. You ever go? You're looking at the funhouse mirror

and your head is four feet wide and your legs are two inches thick and you're like that kind of

I guess I can see me in it, but the image is all distorted. Any teaching that mixes the covenants

is a funhouse mirror gospel. It's a distorted gospel, it's a perverted gospel.

It's funny to see the mood shift because on the one side I declare the goodness of Jesus

and freedom from the law and then on the other side I'm using, I'm just quoting Paul and every time

I quote Paul because he's using strong words perverted and you just say, and that's what I want

you to know that. That the apostle Paul, you can hear the emotion, the pathos, the pleading and his

voice and this is the most upset you'll ever see him in entire New Testament. That's how much

by the Holy Spirit he hates mixture. He even corrected a problem in the Corinthian church

of a stepson sleeping with his father's new wife which strangely always brought me comfort

in a weird way reading that as a pastor in New York City because we experience all sort of crazy

things and it's nice to be reminded that Paul dealt with crazy Jerry Springer stuff back in the

first century in the Middle East. It was always crazy. So Paul made it through I'm going to be all

right amen. He planted churches and churches thrive we're going to be all right even though

yeah the Montel show was right there in the background happening. Does anybody even know what I'm

talking about? I'm looking at the age in here and I'm like you know what I'm doing, you know what I'm

talking about. Hallelujah. Let's go to verse 8. My point was I got off on 90s daytime TV

but my point is that you see the apostle Paul most upset even when he corrected that fella in

Corinthians you don't see him this upset. He gets excommunicated and then the next letter of Paul

is like come on in you've repented come in but he is viciously defending the integrity of the

gospel when he says no mixture and that's why the mood here is all over the place because Paul

is upset but he's not upset at what most people think he would get upset at. He's upset that there's

a distortion of the gospel which he knows if they live under a distorted gospel the people will

be robbed. Listen if ever you're feeling condemned you're living under a distorted gospel. If you're

feeling guilty you're living under a distorted gospel. Don't think this is a Galatians problem this

is a now problem. If ever you feel like you can't at any time run to Father God and be in His embrace

and be in His presence and He's not counting your sin against you and there's nothing but love

from Him towards you you're living under a perverted distorted mixture gospel. If ever you stay away

from praying because you think God is upset with you perverted gospel. If ever you don't have spiritual

boldness and confidence perverted gospel which spiritual boldness that's something that's lacking

in the church why is it lacking because they have the opposite they have a spiritual inferiority

complex who always feel like they can't get too close to God when in reality they're seated in

heavenly places in Christ people even when they pray these Mickey Mouse prayers not even from their

chest from their throat stop it put some base in your voice put some know who you are in

Jesus why are you talking to the Father God like He's this giant and here's please I just want to

come in real quick please don't crush me don't hurt me I just want to ask I need a little money

to make it to the end of the way I believe if you be so merciful no come boldly to the throne of

praise amen you're forgiven you're made new and that's why the enemy loves getting mixture in there

because it robs you of that essential boldness bold Christians they plan churches they expand the

kingdom they win souls they receive the promises of God and by the way you can ask my wife

when I am bold but in order to be bold I never ever think of my accomplishments I don't psych

myself up on Sunday morning and say all right bow you got this you got I mean you have done the Lord

I think of me in my history and I just like it's under the blood

I have nothing I don't psych myself up in order to be bold I think I've only one thing Jesus

on the cross and what that affords me that's it and out of that comes a roaring lion

if I look at myself for more than one second you see me hiding crying underneath the chairs

if I look at me too long it's all through him but even if we verse 8

but even if we are an angel from heaven preach any other gospel to you then we have preached you

let him be anathema occurs so once again listen to how seriously Paul is dealing with this problem

you know mixture people who preach mixture he says let him be cut off get them out of the church

they are gospel pervertors I love you I wish we can have some Pauline voices rise up today to speak

to ministers who make me mix the gospel in this way I'm called to teach you not to correct other

ministers but I love a true apostle to rise up anyway as we have said before so now I

say again if anyone preaches any other gospel so he's reiterating it twice let them be accursed

if anyone preaches any other gospel to you then what you have received let him be accursed for

do I now persuade men or God or do I seek to please men he's saying who am I who's my target here

my target is God he's saying I preach for an audience of one I write these epistles empowered by

the Holy Spirit for an audience of one everything we do we shouldn't do with the idea of what will

people think but what will God think we're trying it when I preach it's not what how do the people feel

I mean I wonder afterwards but is God when I'm the right home God that I say everything you want

it said is this message pleasing to you preaching for an audience of one for if I still please

men I would not be a bond servant of Christ he's saying if I was not preaching for God if I was

preaching to please you well then I wouldn't be in chains they wouldn't have arrested me I'd be one

of the ear ticklers ear tickling ministries international but he said no I preach the truth and

that sometimes comes with consequences let's let's look at some compare and contrasts shall we

between the old and new covenant let's look at those slides please under the Old Testament God

he demands righteousness under the new testament God imparts righteousness through the completed work

of Jesus so old covenant God shows you the standard righteousness but you have no power to fulfill

that standard this is so beautiful under the new covenant and this is the gift that Jesus offers

everyone if you believe in him believe in your heart and confess in your mouth that he died for

you on the cross and he was raised from the grave you are given righteousness you have

something known as imparted righteousness and imputed righteousness imparted righteousness means

that Jesus takes his righteousness and gives it to you imputed righteousness means that in the heavenly

ledger it's written down as so you know what the Bible also says numerous times that you have

non imputation of sin so there is a heavenly ledger even in revelation it talks about the book

and your name is written in there and next to it if you believe in Jesus you're trusting in him

for his righteousness your name is there and it says righteous yeah you know what it doesn't say

sinner and it doesn't have any record of your sins in fact grace is so radical

Paul wrote in Romans David prophesied about it blessed as the man to whom sin is not imputed

Paul said this is the day you're living in now if you mess up if you sin God doesn't even put it

on your record you know the way some people picture God he's the schizophrenic up in heaven

with a raceable ink and a lot of white out and all throughout the day he's writing okay the righteous

now oh they messed up now they're not righteous now they're not righteous they're righteous not

righteous that's why most Christians are walking civil war I'm right I'm righteous I'm not I'm

holy I'm not I'm saved but I had a bad week so let me get resaved and this is why there's a problem

in churches of the same person raising their hand at every altar call for two years you don't have

to be born again again if you fall you don't fall a sinner you fall a saint you're still made

righteous and then now you get up a saint looking at Jesus and he will empower you to cut the

nonsense out to stop sin hallelujah let's look at the next one did I read the New Testament part

or did I go off right after let's just go back just because I'm legalistic this way I want to

make sure and the New Testament God in parts I did read it in parts righteousness through the

completed work of Jesus oh I know what I wanted to say when I read that I knew I was missing

something I ask wherever I travel if I'm ministering I miss I ask this question who is more righteous

you or Jesus this is such an important question you won't fully understand grace you won't fully

be living under the new covenant until you can immediately answer I almost want to call some of

you out who's more righteous you or Jesus Jesus wrong who's more righteous you or Jesus

I love to see you squirm I didn't mean to pick on you but I love to see people squirm I have to

see it I'm sorry I wasn't trying to pick on you and I know you're new so I don't understand I

understand your work and all that but you're just representative of so many I see it all the time

Jesus because it seems so heretical to say anything else right God feel that lean into it

that feeling of being heretical the leader sends you straight to hell or it's really going to

bring a closer to Jesus because you're saying bye to past lies if this is righteousness it's a gift

and Jesus has given it to you he has given to you his righteousness he has imparted and imputed

his righteousness to you when God the Father looks at you he sees the righteousness of Jesus

on you when you talk to God the Father he hears you as though it's Jesus talking to him so who's

more righteous you or Jesus the same the same you could feel it those of you with a prophetic

angle can you hear the gears turning in the air does not compute does not

pastor I'm uncomfortable with you saying it I don't even know how I could say it I want you

dancing around the house singing it it's what the enemy doesn't want you to believe

this holiness is linked to that receiving answers to prayer is linked to that

he died to give you his righteousness see I think the problem also is people think there's

degrees of righteousness they confuse righteousness with holiness there's degrees of holiness

but righteousness is right standing with God it's really a binary outcome you either is or you

wing there is no in between ground that's why the Bible calls you a saint you're a saint now now

after you die in the city light church press putary meets and votes and decides to procure

sainthood on your life you're saint now you're sin free now you've been made perfect now

this is I know I'm camping around this at length but this is so important

no matter how many times I ask you you can just see people they're so afraid be afraid of mixing

the covenants be afraid of that don't be afraid of declaring that you have the same righteousness

of Christ it's not you saying I'm all that it's you still saying it's all of him in and of myself

all my righteousness is as a filthy rag but because of him I smell even to the Father like

Jesus I have a fragrance my voice is is is a delight to the Father just like Jesus is is this is

Bible truth all right next verse under the Old Testament God will visit your sin to the

third and fourth generation under the New Testament God will by no means remember your sin

anymore you have non-imputation of sin next slide please under the Old Testament you're under

a curse if you do not obey God's commandments perfectly which by the way is why oftentimes when

you read the Old Testament it can get a little bit how do I say depressing still the word of God

it's just as much the word of God as the New Testament is but it's a different covenant look

God hasn't changed God is the same but the way he deals with man has changed and under the old

covenant if you mess up some kind of curse has to come you see David doing just fine at the end

of his life all those victories he was forgiven of sins all is fine now and then at end of his life he

has a bright idea to number the people to number the armies you shouldn't have done that because

he was relying more on than his natural strength than the divine strength that comes from Yahweh God

so he numbers the people it's an act of pride and a curse comes upon the land too many Christians

think they're living like that today under the New Testament you enjoy God's favor and blessing

because Jesus has been a made a curse for you on the cross you are blessed you cannot be cursed

hallelujah another way that preachers love to mix the covenants in order to manipulate the people

and get the desired responses in the area of tithing many you have heard over and over again

for Malachi Malachi 3 Malachi 3 if you if you don't tithe you are cursed with a curse so everybody

you come you bring the whole tithe what there's a whole hold what does that even mean the whole tithe

because 10% is 10% if it's half a tithe it's 5% but anyway bring the whole tithe

otherwise you're cursed I've never preached that here's the truth under the new covenant if you don't

tithe you're not cursed why because you're forever blessed in Jesus God is not schizophrenic up and

have any racing oh they were blessed not the cursed and the blessed not the cursed you're blessed

your finances may not be blessed and you're showing immaturity and you're showing lack of faith

and unbelief because still tithing is a benefit when I tithe it's my way of increasing but it's

not that you're going to be cursed you're not paying protection money to the godfather he's your

father god and he loves you and if you're tithing in order to avoid a curse you are the most miserable

of Christians what a terrible terrible setup that gets old real quick like okay here's here's my

protection money god don't send Vinnie and Angelo the two kneecapping angels from heaven to bust

me up and teach me allow won't do it again oh lord I'll pay my money with a vick

and do you know at city light our giving as a church is about two to three up to up to three times

we give up to three times more than our church number our church attendance the number of people

we have a church in other words we're very prosperous church we're deaf free we support missions

all over the world we're moving forward we have staff why because we have a bunch of new covenant

Christians who love the Lord and they tithe because they know it's the right thing not because

they're trying to avoid a curse people say it's tithing still for today yes it's for today

it's the base layer it's how you start if they have to give a tenth under the old covenant

which was no fun at all how much should we give under the new the tithe is the beginning

and you say what is he saying does he's saying I should give 30% no here's the beauty of what I'm

saying you chicken with God and find out above the 10 and even the 10 is illegalistic it's just

what the idea is why should we do less than what they did under the old I've been set free I've

been given the righteousness of Jesus I have so much more I should give more hallelujah hallelujah

I remember once the pastor said he said if they come in for counseling first question ask them

if they're tithing if they say no then I tell them I can't help you because you're

ready under a curse if you're not tithing I can't help you under a curse come back when you're

tithing and the curse has lifted I thought I thought that's a good idea to keep the calendar clean

that will really that just kidding I'm just kidding

you know what's really funny listen grace is so messed up it is the exact opposite Christianity is

a weird bizarre faith it really really is that's why Paul called grace a mystery a mystery doesn't

mean something that can ever be known a mystery in Bible language means it's a it's a sacred truth

hidden not from you but for you it just requires you asking the Lord for revelation it's the same

reason why Jesus spoke in parables they asked him why speak in parables he said because I don't

want you to know what I'm saying easily you got to show hunger you got to show desire and I'm not

casting pearls before slime but if you're hungry for the truth I'm going to reveal is to you are you

cool see with me so far Christianity weird bizarre different than what we think my point here is

when it comes to tithing the more I declare that you're not under a curse when you tithe and I

said people free are giving always goes up and most pastors they're afraid to say it because they're

afraid they think giving will go down no keep them under the law keep them afraid of the curse but I

say hey you're blessed and God loves you and if you don't have no you're not going to hell and

no he still forgives you and you have a relationship with him and now you're like whoa he's really

nice isn't he he's really good and finally you're seeing the love of God and the beauty of

Jesus and you're entering into a real new covenant relationship with him you're going to be tithing

in no time not because somebody's making you but because it's a natural out of your spirit man

natural hallelujah all right just next slide please everybody having a good time hallelujah

one of the immediate fruits we're going to see in this church during this series is your

prayer life will get better and your receiving life will get better so that you're not just a

bunch of people asking God for stuff and never receiving but you actually know you have a hotline

to heaven when you're under grace there's a confidence there's a faith and you'll be a better

receiver when you see who you really are who his blood has made you to be under the old testament

to children of Israel were blessed only if they obeyed God's commandments perfectly both inwardly

and outwardly under the New Testament believers do not have to depend on their own self effort

because Jesus fulfilled every single one of the requirements of the law on your behalf remember the

whole a plus on the test that next slide under the Old Testament relying on self effort produces

behavior modification without heart transformation God isn't after behavior modification that's religion

he's after a heart transformation true holiness is from the inside out and grace is an empowerment

for holiness new testament as you behold the beauty of Jesus and his finished work on the cross

it brings about an inner transformation which produces good works that are motivated and here's

the key motivated by God's love do you know how many people's entire Christianity is motivated by

fear of punishment sad I was on that on that path thank God he rescued me

pastor you mean to tell me that Christianity will be unlocked that

I'll experience a much greater blessing when I just love Jesus and let him love me more and look

at the cross what about all the books you know the 10 doors to the 12 paths to the 14 highways to

the all the stuff I have to do do do there's some things there's some things you can do or not do

but you cannot stop gazing at Jesus and looking at him never forget the cross never forget his

blood these are things the enemy wants you to forget because that's where the power is Paul said

the gospel is the power of God Jesus as their substitute on the cross that's the power of God

when you can declare I am the same righteousness as Jesus you'll know you're on the right track

do it boldly forever now right because it's on the internet for the whole world to see forever

you're never going to forget this point you're welcome I'm only playing whether she's such a good

support you two are awesome and we are on the next slide worship team come on up I just feel like

that's that's going to be that there's a lot already here we stopped in the middle of Galatians 1

I finished it in the first service don't feel like you're missing out on anything there's really

not much to say about the second half of the first chapter of Galatians I can sum it up if you

want shall I sum it up for you so we don't oh here's the summation he basically just says I got the

gospel by revelation no man taught it to me I got the God the gospel this the new covenant of grace

I got it by revelation and it's so bizarre and so different than anything I'd ever seen before

definitely different than the old covenant I kept it under wraps for a while then I met with the

official apostles the original 12 well 11 Judas was busy and some others some other first

century movers and shakers I want to say that you know global world pastors types real

movers and shakers and he says I told him no this is important he says I told him what I got from

God I told him the gospel I told him about grace and I checked in with them like this is so radical

is this true and then I found that it is true they all agreed on the same thing that's exactly

what God had given them it's known as confirmation anything less you start a cult with some weird

wild idea old testament blood sacrifices of animals covered the sins of the children of Israel

for only one year and the process had to be repeated every year and every year there was a reminder

of your sin under the new testament the blood of Jesus has removed your sins past president future

completely and perfectly once and for all hallelujah church do not mix the covenants how will you

know if you're mixing the covenants you will know there will be red flags there will be alerts

and alarms that come up once again if you're feeling distant from God you're mixing you're never

distant from him you're right there he's right there listen remember when the sky turned dark

and black during the crucifixion and Jesus cried out ilo ilo ilama sabakteni my god my god why have

you forsaken me that was the first and last and only time in the history of all time that God the

father separated himself from Jesus because Jesus was made sin and in a sense God the father turned

his back on Jesus and Jesus cried out why have you forsaken me as he was made into sin

as our substitute so that today you would never ever think oh I'm distant or God why have you

forsaken me because Jesus was forsaken on the cross as your substitute you will never be forsaken

the father turned his back on Jesus on the cross as your substitute so his face can always shine

with love and approval towards you so even if I'm messing up especially when you're messing up

should I continue messing up that this grace may abound no knucklehead God forbid draw on that grace

I mean you can dance that dance for a while it's not gonna end well why will God punish me no

God's not gonna punish you well why what's the warning the sin will punish you the sin is the

punishment you're getting away with it now laughing your head off but the wages of sin is death

God's not gonna here's nothing to do with you engaging in sin stinks of death it produces death

so I don't want to dance with that devil hey man so what's the solution grace Jesus the person of Jesus

everybody lift your hands shout this Lord Jesus thank you for the cross thank you for your

blood thank you for the new covenant of grace because of you Jesus I have been justified I'm declared

righteous I am accepted and I'm yours forever in Jesus name amen hallelujah hallelujah

well join us next Sunday as we jump into Galatians chapter 2

Galatians 2 · chapter mention

this is the city light church podcast if you've missed any part of today's message or if you

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how much God loves you and that you are surrounded by grace thank you for listening make sure

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