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Freedom In Christ | Elder Ang Peng Hoe

Acts Cheras

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  1. You're listening to a message to go from X church. We hope this message

  2. will light up your day. I'm going to talk about freedom in Christ,

  3. but in the context of law and promise or promise. Another word for it

  4. is grace. Okay, So I'm My portion of scripture is from Galatians chapter

  5. three, Verses nineteen to twenty nine, verse nineteen. Verse nineteen says,

  6. is that why then was the law given? I have to give a little

  7. bit of context. Before I taught on this message, I actually taught on

  8. Galatians chapter two, which was basically talking about the law. The law that

  9. was you know we see in the Old Testament. Don't worry, I think

  10. I can still pick up without having to refer back to that entire Galatians chapter

  11. two message. But this is the main question, why then was the law

  12. given? And I'm going to explain it. It was given then, this

  13. is Paul. It was given alongside the promise to show people their sins.

  14. But the law was designed to last only until the coming of the child who

  15. was promised. God gave his law true angels to Moses, who was the

  16. mediator between God and the people. Now a mediator is helpful if more than

  17. one party must reach an agreement. But God, who is one, did

  18. not use a mediator when he gave his promise to Abraham verse to any one.

  19. Is there a conflict then, between God's law and God's promises? Absolutely

  20. not. If the law could give us new life, we could be made

  21. right with God by obeying it. But the scriptures declare that we are all

  22. prisoners of sin. So we receive God's promise of freedom only by believing in

  23. Jesus Christ verse twenty three. Before the way of faith in Christ was available

  24. to us, we were placed under God by the law. We were kept

  25. in protective custody, so to speak, until the way of faith was revealed

  26. verse twenty four. Let me put it another way. The law was our

  27. guardian until Christ came. It protected us until we could be made right with

  28. God true faith. And now that the way of faith has come, we

  29. no longer need the law as our guardian verse twenty six. For you are

  30. all children of God true faith in Christ Jesus, and all who have been

  31. united with Christ in baptism have put on Christ like putting on new clothes.

  32. There is no longer jew or gentile, slave or free male, and female,

  33. for you are all one in Christ Jesus, verse twenty nine. And

  34. now that you belong to Christ, you are the true children of Abraham.

  35. You are his heirs, and God's promise to Abraham belongs to you. Okay.

  36. I know some as we read. We've read this portion of scripture many

  37. many times before, and I hope to just go a little bit deeper today

  38. so that we get an understanding. If Heaven rules, which is the team

  39. for year for our church this year, that means God rules. Okay,

  40. Heaven rules, God rules. It's the same thing because the word heaven and

  41. God sometimes can be used interchangeably. When we read the Gospels, sometimes we

  42. see the Kingdom of Heaven. Sometimes we see the Kingdom of God. Okay.

  43. Every ruler will have their own rules or laws which are to be observed

  44. and followed. Okay, is that clear, all right? But sometimes,

  45. however, when reading the scripture above, it seems to tell us that observing

  46. and obeying the law or rules will not ensure that we will always be saved.

  47. You'll get that when you're reading it, because he's saying that in the

  48. law, the law be fear. Okay, but let's let's go deeper.

  49. Why then was the law given the question that we all have to ask because

  50. we still teach, we put tend commandments and etc. Etc. Right,

  51. So let's start with this question. Okay, consider the fact that Jesus said,

  52. until heaven and earth disappears, not even the smallest detail of God law

  53. will disappear until its purpose is achieved. That's from Matthew chapter five, verse

  54. eighteen. We've read that scripture many times, so here is what we may

  55. find surprising. Actually, many Christians do not take the Old Testament seriously.

  56. Are they right or are they wrong? Question to answer because to some of

  57. them, the Old Testament is just a bunch of laws and rules. Jazz

  58. has a bunch of laws and rules now. And I wish the answer to

  59. that question was simple. I wish we could just say that the Old Testament

  60. is the Jewish book and the New Testament is the Christian book, and that

  61. all the Christians need to know is the New Testament and base their lives on

  62. it. But it's not as simple as that, and Jesus didn't make it

  63. as simple as that. To understand the Old Testament better, we must realize

  64. that there are two strands. Okay, Just imagine two strengths, two treads

  65. moving through, but they're intertwined, going through the entire Old Testament. Two

  66. strengths. One of them is linked to Abraham and the is linked to Moses.

  67. Are you stay with me? Stay with me? And from these two

  68. great men of God, to whom God spoke come the two strengths of promise

  69. and law. Okay, I will explain, both of which eventually came right

  70. true to Jesus. Okay, the strength of promise and the strength of law

  71. came right true to Jesus. What Jesus did was to separate these two strengths

  72. and to do different things with both the strengths. As far as the Law

  73. of Moses was concerned, Jesus took that law and he stopped it. He

  74. brought it all down to himself. That's what Jesus did with the law.

  75. He took every penalty the law has mentioned, and he drew it all onto

  76. his own body, because that was the penalty of the law. Sin leads

  77. to death, and at the cross he suffered the supreme penalty and curse the

  78. law pronounced on those who broke it. So that's why Jesus didn't know.

  79. So at the cross, the strand of law, true Moses was stopped,

  80. and we are no longer under the law. Makes sense, I will explain

  81. the curse of the law was fulfilled. Actually, because the curse of the

  82. law is what's the curse of the law death? The penalty of the penalty

  83. of sin is death. So Jesus paid the supreme penalty, and in so

  84. doing he completed the law. Actually, he fulfilled and finished the law.

  85. That's what it means when we read in the scripture that Jesus came to fulfill

  86. the law. Okay, the other strength, which in fact we will now

  87. be talking about, came earlier. It came earlier to Abraham, four hundred

  88. and thirty years earlier, because we know Abraham came first before Moses. So

  89. the strength of promise somehow when underground through the period of the Old Testament,

  90. and the promise was not enjoyed by the Jews. They knew it was there,

  91. they knew it was continuing through the generations as the promise, but the

  92. fulfillment never came. As Paul has argued earlier. Actually, if you read

  93. in Galactians chapter three, verse sixteen, when God made the promise, he

  94. did not make it to every descendant of Abraham, but to one. It

  95. says. Actually, when you read Galatians chapter three, the earlier portions,

  96. it says, the descendant of Abraham is to one one seed. The promise

  97. actually went on being passed down until the one male descendant would come, who

  98. would inherit God's will and testament made to Abraham. Who is the descendant?

  99. Take a while, guess Jesus, his name is Jesus. Jesus was the

  100. descendant, and he has inherited the promise. But whereas he took the curse

  101. of Moses and stopped it, he took the blessing of Abraham and passed it

  102. on. That's what he did. So the result is that whereas the Jews

  103. lived under the curse of the law of Moses, you realize the Pharisees,

  104. they're all about following the law, following the law, following the law.

  105. The Gentiles now live in the blessing of Abraham. There is a big difference.

  106. Therefore, when we say Heaven rules, it no longer takes a legalistic

  107. form, because if Heaven rules in our lives, it essentially means we are

  108. not bound by the laws and its penalty, but set free to live for

  109. Christ. Now, I know, I know it's deep, but I will

  110. explain why. You see, Paul has been consistently teaching against the kind of

  111. religion that is based on struggle, always trying. Do you realize that's what

  112. we're always doing. Sometimes we're always trying, trying to obey the law.

  113. Scripture constantly reminds us of this. Don't try, just trust. That's what

  114. Scripture tells us. We tend to think religion and make it an effort.

  115. We take what is essentially an offer. God gave us an offer, but

  116. we turn it into a demand. You must you cannot. We take what

  117. God meant to be a delight and we make it a duty. It's a

  118. constant temptation, and Christians do it all the time, even though Paul has

  119. been teaching this for centuries, true God's word, and the Galatians were doing

  120. it. That's why he had to come down hard and he started talking about

  121. all these things. They were actually going back from Christianity to Judaism, back

  122. from the freedom of Christ to the bondage of commandments, because they were still

  123. hanging on you must be circumcised, you must be this, You must be

  124. dead. They were still hanging on to the commandments, back from trusting him

  125. the whole way in everything to trying to be good. When we keep on

  126. trying to be good, we take a step backwards essentially, So what is

  127. the purpose of the law. Then back to the question why the law?

  128. Why in the world if God, Pooh, put the law in and give

  129. us so much, she hated her because if God wanted to give us all

  130. this, if God wanted us just to come with open hands and receive the

  131. gift of the freedom to live for him, why did he give us the

  132. ten Commandments in the first place? Why? Why? God, why didn't

  133. you just live the promise of grace with all of us right from the very

  134. start? And Paul in the rest of Galatians, he's going to say that

  135. God knew perfectly well what he was doing, and the law has indeed a

  136. very important place in Christianity. What is that place? Okay, this is

  137. where it gets even deeper. First thing, when you read verses nineteen to

  138. twenty two, you will realize that why the law, Well, it comes

  139. in two parts. Firstly, the law shuts us in, okay, and

  140. then the promise lets us out Okay, I will explainer. So you can't

  141. be let out unless you are shut in? Makes sense now if that sounds

  142. a bit odd, or maybe it's how you'll like said he stick you know,

  143. it's as though God will lock us in and they're like you and then

  144. go the key. No, I only have the privilege of unlocking the door

  145. and letting you out. Well, it's not quite like that. Let's let's

  146. put it another way. And what Paul is especially saying may make more sense

  147. if we say it like this. You can't forgive a man until he knows

  148. he's guilty. Can you? Does that make sense? You can't forgive a

  149. man until he's guilty. If a person is not sorry, you cannot forgive

  150. them. Try it with your children. If they are not sorry for what

  151. they have done. Forgiveness means nothing one to them because there's no realization.

  152. So in some way you have to show them that they are in the wrong

  153. before you can put it right. And was God's supreme design in giving the

  154. ten commandments that he might lock us into guilt and the understanding of it and

  155. then set us free for forgiveness? Still with me, Stay with me?

  156. Okay? The gospel does not make sense ideal. A person realizes how much

  157. they needed I kill. You know a lot of us sometimes we give our

  158. lives to us, but we don't realize there's a cause to it. We

  159. always think it's free and it means nothing and it costs nothing. No think

  160. again, No, are you beginning now to see why the law was added?

  161. Because it was only a temporary addition. After this is the beauty of

  162. it. It was added kaya it was added after the promise, and it

  163. was actually made obsolete before the promise. If you look at the chronology of

  164. events, the law came after Abraham's promise made, the promise made to Abraham,

  165. and it was fulfill before the promise as well. It became obsolete ready

  166. the promise, On their other hand, therefore continues right true from the start

  167. all the way. So why was the law necessary? Because of human lawlessness?

  168. The Lord does two things. Whatever rules you make, wherever, whatever

  169. laws you pass, two effects always occurs. When first is you simply prove

  170. that people are breaking the law, that's all, it's obvious. But secondly

  171. you actually put a break on wrongdoing, a break, step on the break,

  172. slow it down. The Lord does control wrongdoing to some degree. It

  173. may not stop crime and sin, but we still thank God for good laws

  174. that put a break on evil doing, don't we Just think about it now,

  175. if there is no traffic laws, I think we will all be rascals

  176. on the road. That is the reality of it. There's no restrain in

  177. that sense. However, it does also revealed that people break the laws frequently.

  178. The law is needed for these these two purposes. First to let people

  179. know that this is considered wrong, and secondly, to put some kind of

  180. break because of the sanctions and penalties attached to it. Okay, In other

  181. words, God never gave you the Ten commandments to make you good. Sometimes

  182. we think that's the reason for it, but He's actually given it to you

  183. to show that you are bad and to stop you from getting worse. So

  184. if you think that true, you will realize how wise God is and how

  185. he knows exactly what he was doing. Therefore, here is Paul's rationale of

  186. the law. And now he goes even deeper and he explains he says this

  187. no first layer. The law has limited application in time. It was only

  188. until until something happens. It was a temporary stage. And God wants us

  189. to grow out of it and to become mature enough to not need it.

  190. So let me try to illustrate. Is that not the main aim of school

  191. rules, which which is why they always relax school rules as the children get

  192. older. In primary schools sometimes you get stricter rules. Then once you reach

  193. secondary and once you go to college, it's like you know whoever you want.

  194. Why do schools do this Because they know that rules are needed, It's

  195. needed at a certain stage, but they hope that they are needed only temporarily

  196. until a student has grown mature enough not to need them and can discipline themselves.

  197. It is actually the hope of every parent. I mean, I can

  198. when I raise my kids when they are young, it's I am strict.

  199. I have to be strict. But as they grow older, if I continue

  200. to rule in an iron face, I will get rebels here in the house.

  201. That's that's that's just the true. So a wise parent disciplines their child

  202. in such a way that they know when to realize the child has grown up

  203. and then apt to be trusted with the keys to the house. Now here,

  204. take the keys to my car, and I know you want to wreck

  205. it, right, Because the law is of limited application in time. It

  206. is therefore always inferior to the promise. So that's the first limitation. The

  207. second way is this The second way in which the law is inferior to the

  208. promise is a more slightly harder to explain, but I'm going to try to

  209. explain. It's basically called a mediated governant. There's something indirect that happens.

  210. So if you have an important message to pass on to someone and it's very

  211. personal, you will not send it true other channels. One you would actually

  212. take it directly to the person. Right. Therefore, paulses, you can

  213. see that in some way the law of God was not so important as the

  214. promise, because the law was given by God to angels to give to Moses

  215. and then to hand it over to the people. Okay, However, compared

  216. to when he gave the promise, he say, Abraham, I have something

  217. to say direct to you. So law and promise again appear to be a

  218. little bit different. Now Here comes Paul's point. He says, a mediator,

  219. however, does not represent just one party, but God is one.

  220. Okay. One is Paul trying to say a lawyers Okay, I believe he's

  221. pointing out that there is a difference between the law and the promise. If

  222. you use a middleman, it's usually because you are in a state of negotiation.

  223. Does that make sense? You have a goal between to go and ask

  224. the other party if this is acceptable, or to put it this way,

  225. why do you retain the lawyer when you buy a house? Ever, wonder

  226. why does the other person, the other party, also retain the lawyer because

  227. there is a contract that's being negotiated, and you use a middleman. Because

  228. it's the nature of a two sided contract, it's normal. Now in one

  229. sense, the law given by Moses by God to Moses is a two sided

  230. contract, because God says, if you keep the commandments, I will bless

  231. you. So there are conditions being passed through the goal between two us.

  232. And then Moses brought all these conditions to the Israelites, who then said,

  233. all that the law says we will do. And then Moses went back to

  234. God and say, they say they will do it. There are conditions on

  235. both sides. If we keep our side of it, God must keep his

  236. side of it. If God keeps his side of it, we must keep

  237. our side of it. It's a contract, makes sense, But the promise

  238. is not like that at all. The promise is not a contract. It's

  239. what we call a covenant, and that's the main difference. A covenant is

  240. a one sided thing with no conditions, because it essentially is a promise.

  241. I promise to do this. When God made a promise to Abraham, there

  242. was no contract in it. There was no eaves, no, but God

  243. said, I will, I will bless you, and all the nation's true

  244. you. So the promise is much more like God's corrected than the law.

  245. God is one party, and therefore he makes governance rather than contracts. Does

  246. he make sense now? Okay? The third thing is this? The third

  247. contrast between law and promise, which Paul makes is this. He says that

  248. I'm quite sure by now you are thinking that the law and the promise are

  249. opposites, but that God in fact gave us two rival systems. It's like

  250. God introduced two systems to mess us up, and you can choose between them.

  251. You can either believe in the promise or you can keep the law.

  252. You can either get saved by believing my promise true, Abraham, or you

  253. can get saved through keepping the commandments. It seems as if there would,

  254. in fact two religions in the Old Testament. What is Paul's reaction to that.

  255. He says, never no, for the simple reason that the law is

  256. completely inadequate. Basically, the law will never be enough. That's what he's

  257. trying to say. So it was not only an interim measure. That's not

  258. only a limitation in time. It was not only an indirect measure basically you

  259. need to use a mediator. Given true others. It was also an adde

  260. quote measure to deal with your wrongdoings. And mind it was it will never

  261. be enough. Makes sense. Now let's look at this in more detail.

  262. If passing a law could make people lead good lives, then it really will

  263. be the answer to all matters in life. Right As a lawyer, I'll

  264. be happy to enact laws, enact laws that everyone becomes good. But the

  265. reality is you cannot make honors people by an egg of parliament, can you.

  266. I don't think you can. All it does is it demonstrates how evil

  267. we are and also put some kind of break on it. Even though they

  268. are over six hundred and thirteen laws in the Old Testament, not one of

  269. them can make you good. And so law and promise are not rivals because

  270. the promise can make you good. The promise can make you right in the

  271. Lord's eyes. The law can't do that. The law can only show that

  272. you are bad and stop you from becoming worse. But the promise can leave

  273. you into a good life. The law therefore was utterly inadequate and it couldn't

  274. do the job. That is what Paul is trying to tell us. So

  275. let's turn now to the glorious side of the promise Verses twenty three to twenty

  276. nine. I read it religious now, but I will explain lie my land.

  277. You'll stay with me. Stay with me. I know it's a bit

  278. deep, but stay with me. Now, which would you rather be,

  279. Okay, ask yourself, sir. A man on the run knowing that one

  280. day the police will catch up with you, or a man with your case

  281. being taken now and then made completely innocent. Now do you a difference,

  282. because one is false freedom. You may be on the run, but you're

  283. constantly living under this falseness that you know you can keep on running. And

  284. the other is true freedom. The fact is, if we go with the

  285. law, it is going to catch up with us one day. Think of

  286. anyone who has broken the law, they are technically on the run until the

  287. law catches up on them and then they are found out. Usually we are

  288. free as long as we are not found out. So it may seem that

  289. you have some sort of freedom when you are not found out, But what

  290. kind of freedom is that when you're constantly afraid of being discovered or being found

  291. out. But suppose you get caught and the judge says, we will take

  292. the case now, and then the judge says innocent acquitted, You walk out

  293. of that court into a different kind of freedom. Now, this is true

  294. freedom. This is real freedom. Because you see, the world is made

  295. out of people who are on the run. That's not real freedom. True

  296. freedom comes to those who come to Christ and believe the promise. They receive

  297. salvation as a gift. That is what grace is. Grace essentially is God's

  298. riches at Christ's expense. That means it was all put on Christ, the

  299. entire penalty. He bore it for us so that what can happen, so

  300. that his righteousness, eventually I will talk about it clothes us. So they

  301. hear God say I've taken your case now. Not on the day of judgment,

  302. nor I'm taking it now, and you are acquitted. That's the word

  303. justified. You are justified, you are made right, you are justified true

  304. your faith. You walk out of that caught a free person. Now you're

  305. free to read your Bible, You're free to worship God. You're no longer

  306. on the run from him, his word or his paper. Now you are

  307. free, really free. Is the promise that did that for you, not

  308. the law. So Paul goes on to describe all these using stages of being

  309. in prison to being set free. He actually talks about it. The first

  310. dage is when you are helping custody and you saw, we read that.

  311. No, you were kept under the strong guard of the law. It was

  312. always there to say you shall not, you shall not. Then Paul goes

  313. on to give us another picture to help us understand. He says, the

  314. law was like a strict guardian to make you behave when you were a child.

  315. You see some of us head maybe not many of us life, how

  316. many of your head nanny's when you were growing up? Okay, not all

  317. of us. For previation maybe in Victorian days in UK and back in those

  318. times they actually had like a nanny, and the nanny usually is given full

  319. authority over the children. When the nanny can discipline you. In a sense,

  320. it was a form of delegated authority. Name's parents gives the nanny the

  321. authority to discipline the children. And this is how it was in those ancient

  322. times. It was actually the job of a slave to do that until the

  323. child came to age. The parents did not discipline their own children. You

  324. know that they got an older slave who was given a Greek title, and

  325. if you read the scripture you'll see that title. It's called paida Gorgs,

  326. which actually means a child minder or a babysitter, so that child minder is

  327. actually given the task of punishment and discipline. The parents never punished their own

  328. children, and the slaves did that. This paida Gorgas character did that for

  329. them. Moreover, some of those slaves were very tough, you know,

  330. everywhere the child when the slave went with them, and the slave had full

  331. authority to punish the child, shout of killing the kidler. That's that's that's

  332. history. That's the Bible times that we are reading. Okay, So the

  333. slave usually looked after the child in this manner until the child reaches anywhere between

  334. a teenage somewhere between fourteen to seventeen. Then the father took over and the

  335. child was given full freedom from punishment. The child was for the first time

  336. called son. Prior to that it is child. Now son, and for

  337. the first time the son could use the word father. So the son was

  338. given full freedom the key of the door. Basically by a time the father

  339. takes over. Trust Really, that's trust I give you the kid. The

  340. father did not replace the slave with more discipline, because the father trusted the

  341. mature son. Now, that was a picture that Paul takes out of domestic

  342. life in his time, and he says, can't you see that's what the

  343. Ten Commandments were to you. That's what he's saying. They were like your

  344. nanny, they were like your guardian. They were like your child minder.

  345. When you were immature, you needed someone to follow you around wherever you wan

  346. to make sure you weren't naughty, that you didn't get into trouble. But

  347. the child minder always had to pass a child on at a certain age.

  348. The main task of the childminder was to pass the childhood the father, and

  349. when the child became a son. The child minder's job was completed. It

  350. was done. The law was your child minder, and when you were an

  351. immature person, you needed the law. Therefore, when you came to Christ,

  352. the law completed its job. It has shown you that you were a

  353. sinner. It had shown you your guilt. It had kept you from getting

  354. worse. But now you have met Christ. You are a son. That's

  355. what Scripture is saying. You can look up to heaven and say, Daddy,

  356. Ahba Father, and your heavily Father will save. From now on.

  357. Here is the key to the door. That's why Jesus says, I am

  358. the door. From now on, I trust you. From now on you

  359. are self discipline. What a freedom it is. You are no longer in

  360. custody, You are no longer in the hands of the law. You are

  361. now free. You are now baptized in Christ. You see that in what

  362. Paul is saying in those scriptures. Paul says you are now wrapped up in

  363. Christ. He says, you put Christ on like a new suit of clothes.

  364. You put on Christ. You clothe yourself with Christ. Ultimately you will

  365. read that you clothe yourself with the righteousness of Christ. So when you were

  366. baptized, you put on Christ. God help out Christ to you and said,

  367. put him on. You are a man. Now you are my son.

  368. Now, so put on my son in your life. That's what baptism

  369. is about. And then he goes on to say, now there are no

  370. more distinctions. Therefore, all those who are baptized in Christ have no distinction.

  371. Now it means that all of you who belong to Christ are not separate

  372. individuals anymore. You are just one person clothed in Christ righteous. So you

  373. can look at people and say his this, and she's dead, and he's

  374. dear. Other you cannot say he's jew and his gentile. You cannot say

  375. that. Or he's just male and female, his slave, he's free.

  376. No, all you can say is we are all just one person. Now

  377. you have not only become sons of God. You have each become part of

  378. the Son of God. You read the scripture, Read it slowly, and

  379. you will see it and you will understand it. Now, if you have

  380. become part of the Son of God, then God rules over you right.

  381. Then indeed, Heaven rules in your life. Then you can claim the promise

  382. because we are part of God's will and Testament to claim the promise Holy Spirit.

  383. You can go to God and say, God, bless me with the

  384. Holy Spirit because you promise him to us to the seat of Abraham. And

  385. I'm wrapped up in Christ. I'm part of your son. I am that

  386. seat. Now, I am that issue. I'm the one person who inherits

  387. this. I claim my blessing. Are you all with me? I'm coming

  388. to an end. The bank can come up, and I'm going to head

  389. off too as can hopefully not blow their brains into smitherings. Has the Law

  390. or the rules or the Ten Commandments any place in Christianity today? Sometimes we

  391. ask, because that was the first question that was asked in the scripture,

  392. Why why then the law? Well, only if they act as guardian to

  393. lead you to Christ. That is the function of those kind of rules and

  394. those kind of laws. First, it has a function for those who do

  395. not yet know Christ. You know, the ten Commandments drive us to Christ.

  396. I still teach the Ten Commandments till today. Many people come to Christ

  397. when the Ten Commandments are preached to them. And the reason is simple.

  398. It is the needle of the law that that treads your soul to pull the

  399. tread of the Gospel in the law is painful learner because you read the ten

  400. Commandments. I don't know how many of your can be like Paul and say

  401. that I only break one. He will admit he only broke the tenth Commandment.

  402. It's the hardest commandment for any Jew to observe because it says, don't

  403. covert your neighbor's property. But the Jews are very rich people, very good

  404. with money. They want more things. They're quite greedy. And that's why

  405. he admitted that one I fail, But it doesn't matter all six hundred and

  406. that in all you need to do is not fulfill one, and you broke

  407. them all. And so the ten Commandments is a needle of the law that

  408. penetrates also pulls the trade of the Gospel. And it is the Lord that

  409. brings you down very low so that God may leave you up high. And

  410. I read the time commments. I'm like mal is the law that makes you

  411. guilty that God may forgive you. Is the law that shuts you in so

  412. that God can let you out. You see the health a healthy conversion.

  413. Someone who gives their life to Jesus is someone who's been to the law first

  414. and realize from the law how far they have fallen shot of God's standards,

  415. and then coming to Christ and realizing their freedom is so real. Do you

  416. know Jesus's standards in the New Testament is not any lower? Sometimes we think

  417. or Jesus came to fulfill the law, which means that his standard now is

  418. flexible do anything you want. That's not true because you realize Jesus says,

  419. if the law says thou should not murder, I tell you what you look

  420. at someone angrily, you have committed murder. See the law could never cover

  421. motive. Jesus covered motive in ten He says, I never compaine adultrey.

  422. But Jesus say is if you look at someone with just a lustful thought,

  423. you have committed adultrey. Do you think that's a higher standard or a lower

  424. standard. I think it's the highest standard possible. As Christians, when we

  425. read the Ten Commandments, it just makes us realize much more how we need

  426. the promise of grace. We don't try to keep the commandments. We must

  427. always go back to Christ for more forgiveness, more grace, and more of

  428. God's love, grace, God's riches at Christ's expense. That is what rules

  429. in heaven. Rules mean really, And so I believe that God uses the

  430. law, He uses rules all the time to bring us to Christ, to

  431. lead us to Him, to drive us to grace, to show us our

  432. other in adequacy. We will never be enough without him. There is nothing

  433. we can do to deserve God's righteousness. Remember that, nothing you can do

  434. to deserve grace and his righteousness. But but we must still receive it nonetheless.

  435. A lot of times that we get confuse. No, it's like,

  436. oh, it's not about doing No, there's nothing you can do to gain

  437. righteousness. That's correct. There's nothing you can do because everything Jesus has done

  438. for us. But that doesn't mean you don't receive the grace that is an

  439. act. No. A lot of times were like, we don't have to

  440. act one, don't have to do anything, just free. No, the

  441. act of reception is equally as powerful. You can get it right, There's

  442. nothing you can do to deserve it, but you still must receive it.

  443. A lot of times we don't receive this gift. When we receive, then

  444. we come to Christ, we receive the Holy Spirit. We discover what freedom

  445. really is. Now we truly have the freedom to choose to live for him.

  446. Before we didn't have such freedom. Before there was only one outcome,

  447. the penalty of law, which leads to death. But now we have the

  448. choice to choose to do what is right. We are laborated when Heaven really

  449. rules in our lives. It's not the other way around. The law of

  450. times we think the rules it's going to trap us. Which is true,

  451. laws and the rules will always constrict. But Jesus is the fulfilled promise,

  452. and he has come to give us life and life more abundanted. Does that

  453. make sense? I pray we understand how powerful? Then, as we undermine

  454. what Jesus did for us on the cross of cavalry, always remember this,

  455. this was a man who had not an ounce of sin in him. If

  456. ever we take away the personhood and the divinity of Jesus Christ, we have

  457. nothing. This is a man who did not deserve a single whip on his

  458. body. He didn't deserve anything. He didn't he didn't deserve. We deserve

  459. to die the death he died. That's why none of us can say that,

  460. Lord, why you allow bad things to happen to me? The reality

  461. is, while we are saved from the penalty of sin when we put our

  462. hope and our trust in God. And that is true. You're not necessarily

  463. saved from the consequence of sin, No, because sin has got consequence,

  464. but we are saved from the ultimate penalty. When we put our hope and

  465. our trust. You will realize if you can be safe, but if you

  466. keep on doing what is wrong, there will be consequence, and I believe

  467. sometimes it can even affect your salvation. You don't hear preachers teaching and preaching

  468. like this because it's not cool. We always go with the one safe,

  469. always safe. Now after that I can do whatever I want. I will

  470. always tell people be careful with that thought, because that is not biblical.

  471. We must constantly. Now we are laborated, free to choose to do what

  472. is right, never undermine it. Amen. We hope you've been blessed by

  473. this message. For more information on our church, please visit x Church to

  474. RG. We are also active on Facebook and Instagram. We're believing that this

  475. week is going to be a good week. I hate for you. God bless