Latest / Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast / #14811 - What Is the Purpose of The Law - Galatians 3:19-29

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#14811 - What Is the Purpose of The Law - Galatians 3:19-29 · Calvary Church with Ed Taylor Podcast

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Welcome to the study of God's Word with pastor and author Ed
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Taylor, recorded live at Calvary Church in Aurora, Co.
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To learn more about the many resources available through a
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Bounding Grace Media or to tune into our live stream services,
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visit us online at Calvary Co dot Church or download our free
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Calvary Church app. Now here's Pastor Ed to take us
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into our study. Amen.
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Open your Bibles, Galatians chapter 3.
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We're going to pick up where we left off last time.
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Galatians chapter 3 verse 19. We are in a segment of Galatians
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where it is more theological, more Bible study oriented as we
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are learning the foundations of covenants and promises as Paul
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is reminding the Galatian believers that significant
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promise and relationship God initiated with Abraham.
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And then remember 600 years later, the law came and they're
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wrestling with where it all fits in their relationship with
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Jesus. The Galatian believers were
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saved by grace. They were pagans, they were
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Gentiles. They had no relationship with
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the law whatsoever. So teaching the foundation of
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the law to them is important because they don't know it.
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And I know that as you're study in the Bible, there's a lot of
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that you're learning that you didn't know.
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And you wonder sometimes, why are we studying this?
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Like on Wednesdays right now, we're going through the history
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of Israel in Exodus. And you're just like, well, how
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can Exodus be relatable thousands of years later?
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And you'll find as you come through Bible study, it's very
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relatable. There's an eternal message in
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the faithfulness of God and learning again, the covenant
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that was given from Mount Sinai to the children of Israel, why
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it was given. And Paul's doing the same thing
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with the believers in Galatia, because they've been ripped off,
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and they've been ripped off specifically with something they
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didn't know a lot about. Again, they're pagans, they're
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Gentiles. They're not really living in the
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Jewish world. They were just plopped out of
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their sinful life and dropped into life in Christ.
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And they're enjoying Jesus until false teachers came and confused
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them. And in the confusion they go,
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well, maybe that's what we need to do.
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We need to become Jews 1st and we need to get circumcised and
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we need to follow all the laws. After all, we don't know a lot
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about that. And Paul takes his pen in hand
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to the churches that he planted to correct the errors.
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And Paul's exhorting believers to remain in grace.
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And that is the message to us today, Learning, or for the
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Galatians, reteaching them the importance of God's promises,
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how God keeps his promises, how God not only makes them, but
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keeps them and reveals his reliability through promises.
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God made a promise to Abraham, another man that was a Gentile
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living life in a Pagan idolatrous home, and yet God
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singled him out and related to him and called to him and
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reached out to him and said, leave your country and follow
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me. And he gave him all those
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promises that we studied earlier.
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And what was his response? He left home.
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He believed God. And what does the Bible state?
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Because of his belief? He believed God and it was
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accounted to him for righteousness.
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Another way of saying that he came into relationship with God.
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What we would say today in the new Covenant, he was born again,
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living life. He was living life by following
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God, and he followed God simply by believing.
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Now, Abraham believed God with nothing in his life.
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He had no Bible, no scroll, no law, nothing.
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And God met him with righteousness.
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What was what? What did that become?
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A gift of grace. Abraham experienced grace very
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early on. Now so far, just by way of
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review, so far in Galatians chapter 3, we've learned 4
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things. Let me lay them out for you so
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you can jot them down #1 We learned what the law doesn't do.
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The law #1 doesn't give you the Holy Spirit.
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The law is incapable of giving you the Holy Spirit.
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We learned that in verses one through 5 #2 we learned that the
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law does not give you righteousness.
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We learned that in verses 6 through 9, the law cannot convey
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righteousness to you, it only reveals.
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Thirdly, we learned that the law does not justify you.
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It can only condemn you. When you read through the law
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can only show you your failures. And then #4 the law does not
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replace the promises of God. Or more particularly, we learned
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that the law does not replace the righteousness by faith in
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the God's promises. Today we're going to turn a more
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positive turn and we're going to learn well then what we we
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understand what the law hasn't done, but what does the law do
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exactly Why the law then why is significance?
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Notice in verse 19 in Galatians 3, that question is asked.
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Paul anticipates a question and he asks it.
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He says, what purpose then does the law serve?
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I know it doesn't give the Holy Spirit.
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I know it doesn't give righteousness.
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I know it it doesn't justify. I know that doesn't replace
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God's promises. So then what does it do?
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Well, what's the purpose? And he says it was added verse
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19 because of transgressions till the seed.
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Notice that singular if you have a new King James, that's capital
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S because the whole context is still Abraham.
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And remember, the promise was to Abraham and his seed.
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So that seed doesn't refer to the nation of Israel, doesn't
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refer to many Jewish people. It refers to 11 singular man.
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And we learned last time that it refers to Messiah.
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So he's saying it was added because of transgression till
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Messiah. If you want to write in your
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bibles you can just circle it so you can remember it right next
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to it. Messiah or Savior or Jesus,
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That's who he's referring to. It was added because of
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transgressions until the seed should come to whom the promise
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was made, and it was appointed through angels by the hand of a
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mediator. So he gives a 2 fold purpose for
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the law. First of all #1 the law was
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given to demonstrate to man to show us our inability to please
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God through our own good works. And it says there It was added
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because of transgressions to give definition for the failures
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in our lives. Now we understand that we cannot
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earn God's favor by our good works because we fail.
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We can't offer to God perfection.
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None of us can. And that's been the theme of
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chapter 3, that we all have sinned and fallen short of the
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glory of God. No one is able to earn God's
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favor, none of us by our own good works.
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It was first of all added to show the depth of man's sins
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jotted down in Romans Chapter 7, verse 7.
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Paul would write this. What shall we say then?
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Is the law sin? Certainly not.
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On the contrary, I would not have known sin except through
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the law, for I would not have known covetousness unless the
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law had said you shall not covet.
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I mean, the law reveals sin generally, but one of the things
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the law does personally is reveal our own sin individually.
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And Paul was reading the Bible and noticing thou shalt not
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covet. And he said, that's in my life.
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That's something I should avoid. And with sin in the world, God
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now is giving definition to sin. It's a temporary means.
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The law is to reveal our own sinfulness.
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And we've we've used this simple illustration many, many times,
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but it's the best one. As you're driving and you notice
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the speed limit sign, the speed limit sign is revealing to you
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the law. And as you compare the number on
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the sign to your speedometer, you are able to see whether
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you're a transgressor or not. There is a rely, there is a
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request or a requirement on the street that you're driving.
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This is the law. And the law reveals to you
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whether you have transgressed it or not.
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That's all the sign does. It's there.
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It's there to reveal the transgression and there are
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others there to enforce it. But there is a second part of
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the law that's important and that is like, like you have to
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look at it this way because you may not have fought the second
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one, but I want you to understand it's like a coin.
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It has two sides to it. On the one side, the the law is
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used to reveal our own sinfulness, but on the other
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side, the law reveals the holy, righteous standard of God, the
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holiness of God. He defines holiness.
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I don't define holiness. You don't define holiness.
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God defines holiness, his righteous standard.
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We learn about his nature and the will of God.
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You could say it this way. If you want to use the coin, you
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can say, but if you want to use both sides, here's how.
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Here's a simple way of why the law exists.
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The one of the first reasons God gave us the law.
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The law reveals our let's put it this way.
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The law reveals who God is and also who we are together.
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The law reveals the perfect nature of God and our imperfect
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nature. The law was given to Moses
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Notice at the end of verse 19. It was appointed through angels
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by the hand of a mediator. It was The law was given to
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Moses, to the people. It was an impersonal delivery.
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God himself did not deliver the law in person.
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He gave it to Moses and Moses delivered on his behalf.
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He brings this out. Paul does to show you the
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impersonal part of the law, where the law there is someone
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between US and the law. In John chapter one verse 17, it
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says the law was given through Moses, but grace and truth came
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through Jesus Christ. This is a point.
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He wants you to see angels somehow.
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Also it says that angels were involved in the giving of law up
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on Mount Sinai somehow, but it was delivered to Moses.
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Moses delivered it to the people in an impersonal way.
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Now the law doesn't bring intimacy, it brings despair, it
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brings difficulty, especially if you want to use it in the, the
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natural realm. It, the law is very discouraging
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if you're a speeder, right? If we're using that sign and
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you're a speeder, the law, every time you see a sign, you're
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worried maybe I hope possibly the Holy Spirit in you like
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you're concerned. Do you see it going?
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And then out of the corner of your eye you see a police
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officer on the island and what you hold.
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No, by the time you see the police officer, it's over.
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They've already got you. They already got the number, and
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they're figuring out if you're too, if you're fast enough, if
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it's worth them flipping a you and pulling you like it's
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already over. But the law, it bothers you
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because you've broken it. You're currently breaking it,
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and you'll probably break it tomorrow.
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The law bothers you. It's not.
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There's nothing that sign. All it reveals to you is that
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the possibility of getting a ticket, it doesn't really give
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you any peace. Even if you keep the law.
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It's a reminder that you have to keep the law.
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It's just a constant reminder that there are guardrails in
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your life. Now, if you take that and you
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apply it into your relationship with God, you could say this
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legalism troubles you the way. Living life in a legalistic way
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and not by the grace of God separates you from God.
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Now, I'm not saying you lose your salvation.
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I'm not saying that it's just you're not enjoying light.
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You just don't enjoy like you wake up in the morning instead
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of wondering and and anticipating all that God wants
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to do in your life. You're just worried about what
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kind of mistakes you're going to make, what kind of failures are
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going to have. Like maybe you're really working
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on an area, you've been praying about it.
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And so this one area, this one area is you want to improve on.
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But now you've you've gone overboard and you're like, well,
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I'm not going to really be a good Christian if I don't get
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this one area. And so that's all you're worried
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about. That's all you're concerned
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about. And now you're just focused on
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that area and not God. It's replaced your relationship.
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Now you've got something between you and God, even on a good
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state, maybe you're not trying to improve anything, you're just
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trying to add something. So you, you develop a list of I,
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I just want these five things to be more characteristic in my
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life. But the list has become so
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important to you that you see the list before you see God.
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There's now a mediator, something between you and God.
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When the Bible clearly says that there's one mediator between God
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and man, the man Christ Jesus. And through him, all of us get
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to come to God immediately where we get to wake up in the morning
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and we go like, Todd, what do you have for me instead of I
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better not send today. That's a miserable way of life,
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man. I hope I don't yell today.
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I hope I don't think bad thoughts instead of Lord, what
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do you have for me? I know I'm going to face this
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and I'm going to go through this.
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And how do you want me to respond?
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And it's I guess you could step back today and just say this.
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Does your religious life does? Does your religion give you
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life? How you've chosen to worship
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God? I mean, are you really living in
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the fullness of life, the abundance of life, the enjoyment
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of life? Are you happy?
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Is there joy in your life? Are you experiencing the freedom
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that's yours from the bondage of sin?
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Are you living in the freedom that God has given you?
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If you're really born again and the Spirit is free in your life,
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then you don't need to live in bondage.
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You don't need to live in a perpetual state of self
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condemnation, just beating yourself up for the failures in
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your life. You don't have to live with an
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emptiness or a hopelessness. I mean, because you know, when
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you, when you're emphasizing your failure so much, then what
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happens is you just kind of give up and you go, well, if I'm a
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failure already, I might as well just fail more.
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Even more. So the reality of Paul picking
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this up in Romans, he goes, hey, man, if, if through sin, grace
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abounds, should we just sin all the more?
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And he says, no way, no way we should live in such a way.
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We're enjoying the release and the freedom that God has given
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to us. I met a brother last night.
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He just got out of jail two years and he's talking about the
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wrestlings and the the difficulties and some of the
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bondages that he's living in the real world.
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And so I paused and I said, OK, let's talk about what you just
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experienced. If I told you today that you
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should be in jail and I'm calling the cops right now and
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they're going to take you back to jail, what would you say?
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And he's like, you looking at me because I shocked him with that
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question. And he's looking at me a little
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bit. And he goes, well, I'm not going
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back. I'm done.
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I signed the paperwork like I'm done.
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They let me out. I'm finished.
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I'm not going back. I know.
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But if I kept pushing you and I kept pressing you and and then
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the officers were here and they came, what would you say?
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Say hey, look, I'm I'm free. You guys are new, whatever you
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want to me. But I'm telling you, I'm free.
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I have paid my debt to society and I'm free.
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And you can't convince. And I said, how do you know?
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And you know, he looked at me. It was great.
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It was wonderful. He's going to walk in freedom
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because I think he got it last night.
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And he looked at me and I go, how do you know?
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And he just said, I know, I'm like, that's right.
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And I said with that same confidence you have with your
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past physical incarceration, you have that right now in Christ,
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exactly what you're struggling with and wrestling with.
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I said, you have that right now and you need to leave here with
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a sense of how do you know I know?
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And that that that sense of knowing actually gets translated
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into believing. And then you live in your
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freedom because that's yours right now.
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You, you, I can't, I'm a, the enemy would come and try to
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convince you. You need to go back to that
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bond. You said I'm free.
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I'm free. I don't live by a list of rules
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and regulations. I live by the freedom that Jesus
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Christ has given me. And if I go off to the left, the
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Holy Spirit will convict me. And if I go off to the right,
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the Holy Spirit will convict me because God lives in me by
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promise and I live by faith. That's what he's saying.
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Verse 19 Verse 20 Now a mediator does not mediate for one only,
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but God is 1 is the law then against the promises of God and
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he answers again, certainly not for if there had been a law
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given which could have given life, then truly truly
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righteousness would have been by the law.
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But Scripture is confined all under sin, but the that the
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promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who
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believe. With the law, a mediator was
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given, but with the promise to Abraham, it was direct.
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That's the point he's making again.
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He's contrasting the promise by faith, Abraham, the law that
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came 600 years later. He's saying with Abraham, God
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came personally promise grace with the law.
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God came through Moses, mediator, middleman with Abraham
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now he's saying there's such sweet closeness that God has, He
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came to Abraham personally, which I'm sure was an amazing
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thing for Abraham, ministering to the things of his heart.
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Remember we mentioned last time not not too long ago that God's
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how? How can God reach people that we
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think are reach? He can use dreams and visions.
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He can appear to people personally, speak to them, lead
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them, speak to the cares and concerns in their lives.
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Even as we see in the book of Acts, when he ministered to
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Cornelius, he was ministering to Cornelius as Cornelius was
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thinking about him, doing good things for him.
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He sent somebody to him. And this closeness and intimacy
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is something that God has given to us by faith, which reminded
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me of of us gathering together today.
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We we kind of take it for granted to some degree because
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it's regular and repetitious. But this gathering that we call
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church is a very important reminder of the intimacy that we
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have with God and with each other.
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The church gatherings are times for the family of God to come
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together and worship God, to rearrange and reorient their
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entire lives toward God. On the first day of the week, or
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for some the last day of the week on Saturday, or for some
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the middle of the week. It doesn't really matter when we
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gather together, large or small, it doesn't matter.
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As we come together, it's a reminder of the closeness and
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intimacy that God has for it's kind of like a Christmas
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gathering or Thanksgiving where we're anticipating, anticipate,
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and we get to like a family reunion.
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Even if family reunion has, you know, Uncle Harry's going to be
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there and we know that we're going to have to deal with him.
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And you know, the church always, we all got those men and women
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that we have to deal with. Sometimes we're the people who
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we have to deal with, but it doesn't matter.
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We love them anyway. We're family.
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We're going to come together and enjoy the Lord together.
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We're, we're going to remember we're not alone, that we're not
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alone in this upside down, sideways world.
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There are many believers all around us.
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And we're reminded when we gather together that we're one
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family. I mean, I think of this little
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church here where you know, you're, you're, you're coming in
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from Aurora, from Denver, from Wheat Ridge, Wherever you're
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coming, you, you're coming together to worship and you're
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learning about how much God loves you and cares for you.
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You know, you're not getting that in the world, are you the
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world social media. I mean, think about your job.
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Can you imagine? I mean, the, the thing that we
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share today, that's probably the closest to unity that we could
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possibly have is when we're singing.
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Have you ever thought about that?
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We're all singing the same thing almost at the same time, sort of
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in the same melody, tempo, whatever all that is.
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But we're like as close as we can be to unity.
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And it doesn't matter if you Can't Sing.
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It doesn't matter if your voice is off key.
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The Bible says make a joyful noise to the Lord.
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It doesn't matter if you hum it, whistle it.
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Bring your tambourine. No, no, no, don't bring your
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tambourine. You can do that in the parking
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lot. But when you're singing, there's
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unity. Can you imagine?
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Can you imagine at work, your boss coming in?
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OK, Everybody just feels like we're all disconnected.
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Come into my office, let's sing a song together that's weird.
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And let's sing to God this worship song.
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And you're like, yeah, I don't know, because I live in the most
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God hating place that I've ever seen on earth.
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I don't ever see that happening. I know you're not going to get
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this at work and you're not going to get this in the world.
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Now, I know you get glimpses of it and I know you can put the
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radio on. That's not what I mean.
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But you don't get this. This is God's gift to you and to
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me. Closeness and intimacy where
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you're where where your guard against this war.
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Like you're on edge in this world, aren't you?
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Some of you are. You're just on edge.
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You're protective. You're just like, man, you're in
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war in this world. But you don't have to be in war
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here. You can let your guard down a
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little bit. You can cry a little bit.
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Probably never in a million years would you cry in your
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cubicle, but you would cry walking into church because, you
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know, you're feeling the presence of God.
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It's a place where, I mean, I was thinking back church
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gathering like this when I got saved, actually even before I
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got saved, it was in a gathering like this where I learned, I
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learned what it was like to be hugged by a stranger.
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And that was pretty weird because they were doing the
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greeting thing and just greet. And some dudes like, come on,
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I'm like, like, don't hug me. I didn't grow up in a home like
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that. I didn't grow up in a family
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like that. I mean, my home was filled with
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love, but that that wasn't demonstrative like that.
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There wasn't a lot of I love you and come on over, son, and let's
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hug that. That's not how my home was.
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And I walk into a church with some dudes hugging me and then
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we're singing songs. That was very different than
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what I was used to. You know, the music I was used
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to was, was very vile and filled with nastiness and sin.
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And then I come into church and I'm singing like it was.
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This is where I learned how to let my guard down and enjoy
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relationship and enjoy not only what I what someone could share
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with me, but then also what I could share with others.
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And I could learn the value of a hug or human touch on the
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shoulder or, you know, the laying on of hands and prayer.
24:00
I learned a lot about intimacy and closeness.
24:04
The law couldn't teach me that. Nobody could have handed me a
24:08
list when I walked in the door and said this is how you get
24:11
close and you're like, not that doesn't work.
24:15
It's something you learn through relationship legalism.
24:19
Listen, legalism and trying to do good works keeps you and me
24:23
away from closeness. You have to understand this when
24:28
you choose to live in such a legalistic way.
24:31
Hey, why are you wearing that? You know, you just walk in and
24:34
somebody. Hey, why are you wearing that?
24:35
We're in church, bro. Why am I wearing?
24:40
That's the only thing clean am I?
24:42
What do you mean? Why am I wearing?
24:44
It's all I own. Like what?
24:45
What does that mean even? And all of a sudden that's the
24:48
guy you want to avoid, the guy that's asking you why you're
24:51
wearing like, listen, just wear something when you come to
24:54
church. That's it.
24:56
Just wear something, please. But you can see if I approach
25:00
you, why are you doing that and why are you saying that?
25:03
And why are you wearing that? That does not foster
25:06
relationship. Can I get an Amen on that, that
25:09
that's like separating us. And sometimes you relate like
25:12
God's doing that to you. Hey, why are you wearing that?
25:16
No, what God will do is he'll give you a conviction in your
25:18
heart about what to wear. He'll give you a greater love
25:22
for others. I mean, let's say you're wearing
25:23
something that might be stumbling to someone or
25:26
something like. Then the Lord, like, I'm just
25:28
going to show my message. I'm gonna put it on my T-shirt.
25:31
OK? All right, It's your T-shirt.
25:33
But as you're walking with the Lord, you find out, ah, you know
25:35
what? That T-shirt's super offensive
25:38
to people. It's not helping with the
25:39
gospel. You don't even actually need
25:41
anybody to tell you that. The Lord told you that, and
25:44
before you know it, you don't want to wear it anymore.
25:47
Like I think, you know, wearing a New York Yankees hat, that's a
25:54
problem. Legalism separates us.
26:02
You know, God didn't give leaders in the church.
26:05
He didn't give us pastors so that we go around sniffing out
26:08
every sin and trying to figure out what sin you're in.
26:11
And that's not why God gave leaders to his church.
26:14
He gave leaders to his church to shepherd the flock of God to
26:18
help you get back on track. Do do leadership deal with sin?
26:22
Of course we do. We have to.
26:24
When it's revealed, it needs to be dealt with biblically and
26:28
honestly and righteously, for sure.
26:32
But serving in the church, enjoying a church family, it's
26:36
not about sniffing out everyone's sin.
26:39
It's about helping people get their eyes back on the Lord.
26:42
When your eyes are on the Lord, you have such a sweet life.
26:47
It's so good to enjoy Him. As leaders, we're here to help
26:51
you grow, to help you understand the Word, to teach it to you, to
26:57
edify you, and to help create an environment where you can learn
27:01
what it's like to know closeness especially, you know, so many of
27:05
us, we just didn't have that kind of upbringing.
27:07
We just didn't live in that kind of family.
27:10
But it's a whole new thing in the Lord.
27:13
Are the law and the promises of God now in conflict?
27:17
Paul says no, because if the law could have made someone
27:21
righteous, God would have given the law to make people
27:24
righteous. But it's impossible to make you
27:27
righteous. It has no power.
27:31
It can only tell you the standard.
27:34
It doesn't have the power. You have to agree with it.
27:39
You have to follow it. He says the we're all equal.
27:44
You notice we're all equal. We we are all under the penalty
27:49
of sin. All of us are.
27:52
There is no law that could make us righteous.
27:55
And that's why the law so important as it reveals to us
27:58
our sin. That's why I believe it's
28:00
important to use the law when you're sharing the gospel.
28:04
Now you, you use it in such a way where it's a revelation to
28:07
someone about their sinfulness, and now you don't have to take
28:12
it and just lay it all out. Bam, bam, bam, your sin, your
28:15
sin, your sin. You can do it very nicely and
28:17
carefully and kindly. As you're talking to someone
28:21
about the love of God, that's beautiful.
28:24
You're talking about the love that Jesus showed in dying for
28:27
your sins. It's awesome.
28:29
You take them to the empty tomb and remind them that Jesus rose
28:32
again from the dead. And then you work backwards.
28:35
You go, well, but we've all sinned.
28:36
So why did he die and why? Well, you know, I'm not a
28:39
Sinner. OK, well, let's just talk about
28:41
that for a second. I respect your view of your life
28:44
and you don't. But but you know, the Bible says
28:47
if we can just agree for a moment what the Bible says, the
28:50
Bible, you can just take him to the 10 commandments.
28:52
You can just take him to 1 commandment.
28:53
You don't even have to use the whole thing.
28:55
You say, well, you know, in the Bible it says that you shouldn't
28:58
lie. Have you ever lied in your life?
29:01
Well, absolutely not never. And like you're lying right now.
29:05
So like like you can just have that conversation, but you know,
29:08
they'll they'll have to admit if it's not lying, stealing, like
29:11
you have to admit in their life at least one time, one time
29:16
they've crossed remember what the law is a revelation of the
29:19
character of God. They have crossed God's perfect
29:25
righteous law and requirements, and in that moment they
29:31
recognize, oh, OK, all right. And you may be planting the
29:35
seed, you may be watering it, or you may be the one that gets to
29:39
bring them to a place of saving faith.
29:42
But it's important you use the law because the law confines us
29:45
all under sin. The law reveals to us our own
29:50
failures. And when you turn your life over
29:54
to Jesus, what a change takes place.
29:57
Notice now in verse 23 it says, but before faith came, we were
30:02
kept under guard by the law. It was a protective, it was
30:06
protective for us, kept for faith, which would afterward be
30:11
revealed. Therefore, verse 24, the law was
30:14
our tutor, Mark that phrase, the law was our tutor to bring us to
30:19
Christ that we might be justified by faith.
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But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.
30:30
So we first of all realized that law was temporary and it had a
30:33
temporary purpose. Actually 2 purposes mentioned
30:37
here. Number one, it was to guard us.
30:39
It was to keep us on guard. We've used the illustration of a
30:42
bowling alley. When your kids are bowling, what
30:44
do they do? They put those guardrails up in
30:46
the in the gutter so that when your kids are throwing the ball,
30:50
the ball doesn't go in the gutter.
30:51
Those guardrails are the whole intent and purpose of getting
30:55
the ball down the the lane. That's the whole point.
30:59
And so the law now becomes those guard rails to get us moving
31:02
forward. And so the law, we bump up to
31:04
the left and we bump up to the right, But the whole goal is to
31:07
get down the end of the lane #1 guarding.
31:11
But #2 the law is also a teacher or a tutor.
31:17
We get in. We get greater instruction from
31:20
the law because it's schooling us.
31:24
And what is it schooling US? Number one, that we can't earn
31:28
God's favor through our good works.
31:32
And you're like, well, I don't understand.
31:33
What do you mean? Well, if you would choose to
31:35
live under the law in the old covenant, you had to watch the
31:39
animals being sacrificed. You needed to see innocent
31:42
animals die and their bloodshed and offered as a sacrifice to
31:46
God, which would remind you that there's always a price for sin
31:50
and that that price is for your sin.
31:52
Not everyone's sin. It's for my sin.
31:55
It was teaching me, teaching me. There's going to come a Lamb of
31:59
God who's going to take away the whole sins of the world.
32:02
God promised it. He promised a seed through
32:06
Abraham. It's a promise.
32:08
So the law even reminds me of the promise.
32:10
It's teaching me. But more than that, this is one
32:13
of those illustrations that speak right to the moment.
32:15
So that word tutor is a technical term that the audience
32:19
would be very familiar with. The tutor was in the Greek and
32:24
Roman homes, was a child was given over to the full authority
32:30
of a tutor, and this tutor was a slave employed by a Greek or
32:35
Roman family, and the tutor's duty was to supervise young boys
32:40
on behalf of their parents. They took their young charges to
32:43
and from school, made sure they studied their lessons, trained
32:46
them in obedience. They were strict
32:50
disciplinarians, scolding and directing.
32:54
The role of the tutor, though, was never permanent, because
32:57
there was always that great day of deliverance when the boy
33:01
finally gained their adult freedoms.
33:04
That's the same picture here. The law covered us while we were
33:08
child children. But when faith came, when the
33:12
promise came, we don't need the tutor anymore.
33:15
You have freedom. You are now in that place where
33:20
you have grown up. And for all of us, we were born
33:24
into the new covenant because we were saved after Christ.
33:28
And so we look back now with eyes to learn from the law, but
33:32
we didn't need it because God saved us after Jesus died in the
33:36
new covenant. The law says I've shown you your
33:40
need, now go to the cross. That's the summary.
33:44
I mean, like pastors can take a Bible study and and extended all
33:48
these words, but here's the study.
33:50
The law says you need Jesus, go to the cross.
33:53
That's it. That's all you need to know.
33:57
You come back to the law. Well, I'm going to keep because
33:58
there are people today, you'll hear them on the radio.
34:00
You see them on TV. You got to go back to the law.
34:03
You've got to become a Jew. You've got to go through all the
34:05
festivals. You've got to keep the Torah.
34:08
No, you don't. By faith in Jesus Christ, he's
34:12
kept it all. And by faith in Jesus, you walk
34:17
in the power of the newness of life.
34:19
And you look at your life and you go, man, I can't believe I
34:24
live out the Bible. I even live out the parts.
34:26
I don't even know when you're reading covetous now you're
34:29
like, oh, that's not a problem in my life.
34:33
I'm glad that I'm not covetous. Or you're, you have this thought
34:37
of coveting something and the Holy Spirit inside of you says,
34:40
no, don't do that. And you go, well, why?
34:44
And you know what the Bible says?
34:45
The Bible says that's not my righteous holy standard.
34:50
Or as we learn the Holy Spirit in you says we don't do that.
34:54
That's not good for us. It doesn't reflect God.
34:58
Notice he says in verse 26. Now he says in 25 after faith
35:03
has come, we don't need a tutor for you are all sons of God
35:07
through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as we're
35:11
baptized into Christ have put on Christ.
35:14
There's neither Jew nor Greek. There's neither slave nor free.
35:18
There is neither male nor female.
35:20
For you are all one in Christ Jesus.
35:23
And if you are Christ, then you are Abraham's seed and heirs to
35:29
his promise you. You get all the blessings of
35:32
Abraham by faith. You get everything that's given
35:36
to Abraham and his seed by faith.
35:40
In Paul's society there were sharp divisions and even today
35:45
sharp divisions and walls of separation between people.
35:50
These are some of them. These are some of them that
35:53
still exist today. There's national divisions, Jew
35:56
and Greek and all kinds of countries.
35:59
There's slaver free different segments of economic, socio
36:03
economic statuses in in life that separate us, male and
36:07
female. That's a big one that gets
36:09
capitalized on or even trying to be erased.
36:13
And then the end says in verse 28 that you are all one in
36:19
Christ Jesus. These have been wiped away by
36:23
Christ Jesus. They're all gone.
36:25
No more racial lines, no more economic barriers, no more
36:29
sexual distinctions. He sees us all as spiritual
36:32
equals. Now stand back for a second, for
36:35
just a moment, because some will take you to this text and use it
36:39
as such a way where like, the real divisions have been, like
36:42
the real distinctions have been done away with.
36:44
Like really, there's no such thing as male or female anymore.
36:47
And they'll take you right here. Like, no, no, no, no.
36:49
Slow your roll here. This is a spiritual statement,
36:53
not a physical 1. You can look around the room
36:55
right now and you can say a hearty Amen.
36:57
There is a difference between men and women.
37:00
I mean, it's very clear that there is no ambiguity about
37:04
that. So that distinction hasn't gone
37:07
away. Men are still men.
37:09
Women are still women. You don't even need the Bible to
37:12
tell you that. Your eyes can tell you that,
37:15
science can tell you that, DNA can tell you that.
37:18
So this isn't an erasing of what country you came from, your
37:22
nationality. It doesn't erase the colour of
37:24
your skin or or how you think or what neighborhood you you work
37:28
in. What the what Christ does erase
37:31
is all of this divisive nonsense that has us looking up or down
37:36
to people or judging or criticizing.
37:38
We are all one in Christ, no matter what our background is.
37:41
That's what he's saying. That's the grace of God.
37:45
That's the importance that we, as we come to the scriptures,
37:50
we're like, yes, Lord, look what you've done.
37:52
This room is representative of that.
37:54
You know that to think of all the differences in this room,
38:00
all the backgrounds, all the nationalities, all the
38:03
languages. I just think of 1 little thing
38:06
if we would have given you and we didn't.
38:07
But let's just say we gave everybody that walked in the
38:09
door here a piece of paper and said right on that piece of
38:13
paper, you're the worst thing you've ever done in your past.
38:16
And then turn it in because that's going to read every
38:18
single one of them in your church service.
38:21
That's all his sermon is, stole, lied, whatever.
38:25
And you know there's going to be some bad stuff.
38:28
And if we still lived in that way, we probably wouldn't have
38:31
met each other. We certainly wouldn't have ever
38:34
been in this room singing together, hugging.
38:39
We would never be together, but in Christ.
38:42
Look what he has done. Look how far he's brought you.
38:46
Even those of you today, He's like, well, you know, I didn't
38:48
really have a bad pass. I don't have any.
38:50
I'll give you a blank piece of paper.
38:51
And what God has done in your heart has made you far less
38:54
judgmental because now you know the grace of God, how much he
38:57
kept you from, he kept you from that stuff.
39:01
For some of us, we didn't listen to God, so he delivered us out
39:05
of that stuff. Doesn't matter.
39:07
We're all one in Christ at the cross who's better than anyone
39:10
else. Nobody, none of us.
39:12
It doesn't matter what we bring to the table.
39:14
It doesn't matter how much money we have.
39:16
It doesn't matter what it doesn't matter it says.
39:19
It says by faith is the great equalizer.
39:22
And Jesus just says to you today, come, just come to him.
39:26
You can hear the invitation. Come to me.
39:30
Come to me all, you are weary and heavy, late, and I'll give
39:33
you rest. You don't have to pay for your
39:35
salvation. You don't have to earn.
39:37
I think of some of you believers here today.
39:39
You you had you had a season where you were walking with the
39:42
Lord, and then you had a season when you weren't walking with
39:44
the Lord. And it really, really hurt
39:48
because you got into really bad things.
39:51
But now you're back. And so now what do you need to
39:54
do? You need to keep your eyes on
39:55
the Lord. Keep going forward.
39:57
You can't look back. Yeah, but you don't understand.
40:00
I live with my past everyday. I know you do.
40:02
But you live more by faith than you do by your past.
40:05
God doesn't define you by your past.
40:07
Like the prodigal son coming home.
40:09
What did Dad do? Threw him a party.
40:11
Welcome home. I'm sure there were some
40:13
stories, and I'm sure there's some discussions.
40:16
But I know that the prevailing emotion in that home was glad
40:19
you're back, son. Glad you're back.
40:21
Missed you, man. I didn't think you were going to
40:24
make it. Didn't know what was going on.
40:26
But you're back, and I'm glad you made it.
40:28
That's faith. It was the law.
40:31
If you look at the parable of the prodigal son, it was the law
40:35
that was in the other son. You see that man, he had two
40:38
prodigal sons, not 11 left and one stayed, but they both left
40:44
the love of their father. And so it's time to come home.
40:48
It's time to be home, to come into that place where there's
40:52
unity and beauty, not by a list of external rules, legalism, but
40:58
rather by faith. You're Abraham's seed, you're an
41:01
heir of the promises of God. Just come and be a part of the
41:04
family. God loves you, knows your needs.
41:08
And today we get to celebrate that through communion.
41:11
We get to remember all that God has done.
41:14
So Father, we pray as you shift our hearts and our thinking just
41:17
a bit, in thinking of what you've done in our lives, the
41:23
family you've put together. And just to think this, this
41:26
little church is only a small little speck of the entire
41:30
church around the world. And we get to be a part of it.
41:35
We are a part of it. And forgive us God, for those
41:38
divisive lines that we have drawn.
41:41
Forgive us, Lord, for prejudging or living in a hypocritical way
41:47
or as a Pharisee. A lot of modern day Pharisee
41:53
among us today and a lot of that Pharisaical spirit seems to be
41:59
in all of us. And so we just pray, God that
42:02
you would continue that work and that that transformation of our
42:06
lives from glory to glory and strength to strength, that you
42:11
would have your way with us as we yield to you and we remember
42:16
your broken body and the blood that was shed for us.
42:19
We're so thankful for grace and again we lavish in your love and
42:25
your grace and mercy today in Jesus name, Amen.
42:31
We pray that you've been encouraged by this Bible study,
42:34
delivered live from the sanctuary of Calvary Church.
42:37
For prayer, call us at 87730 Grace that's 877-304-7223.
42:46
To listen to this message in its integrity or to join us for our
42:50
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42:55
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42:58
Be blessed as you worship Jesus this week.