WEBVTT 00:00:05.340 --> 00:00:08.581 Perhaps you've caught a little bit of this 00:00:08.581 --> 00:00:14.648 if you've been with us in our Sunday service 00:00:14.648 --> 00:00:23.457 the last two Sundays. 00:00:23.457 --> 00:00:27.441 You might have picked up a little bit of this. 00:00:27.441 --> 00:00:30.405 It's kind of come across in being alive, 00:00:30.405 --> 00:00:32.703 being raised up with Christ. 00:00:32.703 --> 00:00:36.944 And we're really going to get into this week 00:00:36.944 --> 00:00:41.151 just being seated in the heavenly places with Christ - 00:00:41.151 --> 00:00:46.668 this whole perspective on living the Christian's life. 00:00:46.668 --> 00:00:52.778 And as I made mention, 00:00:52.778 --> 00:00:56.373 maybe some of you are far more aware 00:00:56.373 --> 00:00:58.366 than I am. You probably are. 00:00:58.366 --> 00:01:00.914 Any of you that have Facebook, 00:01:00.914 --> 00:01:02.816 I don't have a Facebook account 00:01:02.816 --> 00:01:04.847 except whatever you see there 00:01:04.847 --> 00:01:06.023 was created by James. 00:01:06.023 --> 00:01:07.810 I don't have anything to do with it. 00:01:07.810 --> 00:01:08.810 I never look at it. 00:01:08.810 --> 00:01:10.137 I don't know what's on it. 00:01:10.137 --> 00:01:12.411 If material gets added, it's not me doing it. 00:01:12.411 --> 00:01:16.090 It's somebody else. 00:01:16.090 --> 00:01:25.304 But I know that our elders 00:01:25.304 --> 00:01:27.800 recently have become aware 00:01:27.800 --> 00:01:30.475 just of a situation 00:01:30.475 --> 00:01:41.887 of professing Christians watching a movie 00:01:41.887 --> 00:01:45.549 that, in my estimation, 00:01:45.549 --> 00:01:48.088 is absolutely inappropriate 00:01:48.088 --> 00:01:51.139 for a professing Christian. 00:01:51.139 --> 00:01:55.051 And some of you may be aware 00:01:55.051 --> 00:01:59.014 of what's being called the New Calvinism 00:01:59.014 --> 00:02:00.900 or this Neo-Calvinism 00:02:00.900 --> 00:02:06.653 or this "Young, Restless, and Reformed" bunch. 00:02:06.653 --> 00:02:08.775 I don't know how much you folks here - 00:02:08.775 --> 00:02:10.218 some of you young people - 00:02:10.218 --> 00:02:13.022 I don't know how much you even know about that movement; 00:02:13.022 --> 00:02:15.593 how much you actually identify with that movement, 00:02:15.593 --> 00:02:18.894 but one of the things that I saw - 00:02:18.894 --> 00:02:20.565 it was months ago, but I saw 00:02:20.565 --> 00:02:23.061 where John Piper was addressing 00:02:23.061 --> 00:02:25.144 this New Calvinism. 00:02:25.144 --> 00:02:27.743 And one of the things that he feared about it 00:02:27.743 --> 00:02:33.869 was that it is breeding antinomianism - 00:02:33.869 --> 00:02:36.867 just a license for lawlessness; 00:02:36.867 --> 00:02:39.042 just a license for sin. 00:02:39.042 --> 00:02:41.612 This really seems to be abounding. 00:02:41.612 --> 00:02:43.310 These guys like to talk election. 00:02:43.310 --> 00:02:45.364 They like to talk predestination 00:02:45.364 --> 00:02:48.420 and talk all about the different 00:02:48.420 --> 00:02:50.588 high and lofty doctrines of Calvinism, 00:02:50.588 --> 00:02:55.093 but they seem to be really lacking 00:02:55.093 --> 00:02:57.686 when it comes to holiness. NOTE Paragraph 00:02:57.686 --> 00:02:59.541 And anyways, like I say, 00:02:59.541 --> 00:03:00.958 our elders became aware of 00:03:00.958 --> 00:03:02.745 some professing Christians. 00:03:02.745 --> 00:03:05.595 And there was comment going back and forth 00:03:05.595 --> 00:03:07.278 on the Internet about this 00:03:07.278 --> 00:03:08.963 and about the appropriateness. 00:03:08.963 --> 00:03:10.362 Well, let me just tell you. 00:03:10.362 --> 00:03:17.197 I know from my wife used to bring up 00:03:17.197 --> 00:03:20.817 this website called pluggedin.com, 00:03:20.817 --> 00:03:25.395 where you can basically disect any movie 00:03:25.395 --> 00:03:28.293 as far as the content, explicit content, 00:03:28.293 --> 00:03:30.747 language, sex, violence, 00:03:30.747 --> 00:03:33.532 occultic things, anything like that. 00:03:33.532 --> 00:03:36.982 The movie that I have in mind here, 00:03:36.982 --> 00:03:39.973 pluggedin.com says it has 50 F-words, 00:03:39.973 --> 00:03:41.551 40 S-words, 00:03:41.551 --> 00:03:44.163 God's name is misused repeatedly, 00:03:44.163 --> 00:03:46.528 assorted other indecent language, 00:03:46.528 --> 00:03:49.363 sex, violence, occult, hypnotists. 00:03:49.363 --> 00:03:52.180 Pluggedin.com sizes up this movie 00:03:52.180 --> 00:03:57.382 by saying it is bloody and profane. 00:03:57.382 --> 00:04:02.541 And in the past, 00:04:02.541 --> 00:04:05.351 we've actually had situations 00:04:05.351 --> 00:04:08.345 where some of the communication back and forth 00:04:08.345 --> 00:04:10.965 has been about music. 00:04:10.965 --> 00:04:13.466 People listening to music 00:04:13.466 --> 00:04:16.002 that's got profanity, 00:04:16.002 --> 00:04:20.464 or these worldly rap guys. 00:04:20.464 --> 00:04:25.632 And this kind of discussion seems to come up 00:04:25.632 --> 00:04:27.933 where whether it's music, 00:04:27.933 --> 00:04:30.312 whether it's something people are watching on TV, 00:04:30.312 --> 00:04:33.520 whether it's something people are being exposed to on the Internet, 00:04:33.520 --> 00:04:35.152 or movies people are going to, 00:04:35.152 --> 00:04:36.726 and one of the things 00:04:36.726 --> 00:04:44.020 that came out in this discussion 00:04:44.020 --> 00:04:46.877 that I heard firsthand, 00:04:46.877 --> 00:04:50.620 is "show me in the Bible 00:04:50.620 --> 00:05:00.724 where it says I can't do that." 00:05:00.724 --> 00:05:03.318 Okay, we look at that and we say as Christians, 00:05:03.318 --> 00:05:08.318 well, shouldn't our life be guided by Scripture? 00:05:08.318 --> 00:05:09.541 Absolutely. 00:05:09.541 --> 00:05:12.360 I want everybody to totally understand. 00:05:12.360 --> 00:05:14.797 I, in no way, am downplaying 00:05:14.797 --> 00:05:16.432 the importance of Scripture 00:05:16.432 --> 00:05:18.473 in the life of a Christian. 00:05:18.473 --> 00:05:20.599 Not at all. 00:05:20.599 --> 00:05:23.258 In fact, I want to emphasize 00:05:23.258 --> 00:05:26.695 the necessity of Scripture to point out 00:05:26.695 --> 00:05:36.247 what's really important in the Christian life. 00:05:36.247 --> 00:05:39.277 When somebody comes along and says - 00:05:39.277 --> 00:05:40.990 you now, you want to talk to them 00:05:40.990 --> 00:05:46.059 about some activity in their life. 00:05:46.059 --> 00:05:53.467 (Brother, you want to jump over here?) 00:05:53.467 --> 00:05:55.194 But you know, we can talk to people 00:05:55.194 --> 00:05:57.606 about different things in their life 00:05:57.606 --> 00:05:59.633 that don't seem appropriate; 00:05:59.633 --> 00:06:00.773 seem out of place; 00:06:00.773 --> 00:06:01.969 seem unfitting; 00:06:01.969 --> 00:06:03.207 seem worldly; 00:06:03.207 --> 00:06:06.712 seem indecent; seem profane. 00:06:06.712 --> 00:06:08.696 And people want to say, 00:06:08.696 --> 00:06:11.789 "Show me in the Bible where it says that." 00:06:11.789 --> 00:06:15.221 It's like, "Show me the rules." 00:06:15.221 --> 00:06:18.892 "Show me the law." 00:06:18.892 --> 00:06:22.724 That kind of living of the Christian life - 00:06:22.724 --> 00:06:26.964 I want to attack that. 00:06:26.964 --> 00:06:30.083 I want to deal with that. I want to address that. 00:06:30.083 --> 00:06:32.965 Because to live your life that way 00:06:32.965 --> 00:06:37.313 is really to miss it. 00:06:37.313 --> 00:06:44.584 That's not living the Christian life 00:06:44.584 --> 00:06:47.140 according to New Testament principles. 00:06:47.140 --> 00:06:48.273 It's something else. 00:06:48.273 --> 00:06:51.783 In fact, it's a manifestation of legalism. 00:06:51.783 --> 00:06:53.651 It's a manifestation of people 00:06:53.651 --> 00:06:55.559 who want a list of rules, 00:06:55.559 --> 00:06:57.636 and show me the rule that says 00:06:57.636 --> 00:06:59.772 I can do that or can't do that. 00:06:59.772 --> 00:07:06.290 It's basically, always asking the question, 00:07:06.290 --> 00:07:08.154 "What's permissible?" 00:07:08.154 --> 00:07:09.204 What's permissible? 00:07:09.204 --> 00:07:11.052 How close to the line can I live 00:07:11.052 --> 00:07:12.907 and still be a Christian? 00:07:12.907 --> 00:07:15.526 How much of the world can I bring in? 00:07:15.526 --> 00:07:16.652 What's wrong with that? 00:07:16.652 --> 00:07:18.046 What's wrong with drinking? 00:07:18.046 --> 00:07:22.272 What's wrong with - the thing is today - marijuana? 00:07:22.272 --> 00:07:24.495 Or show me in the Bible where it says that. 00:07:24.495 --> 00:07:27.545 Show me in the Bible where it says I'm supposed to evangelize. 00:07:27.545 --> 00:07:29.250 Show me the rule. 00:07:29.250 --> 00:07:32.218 Brethren, living your life that way 00:07:32.218 --> 00:07:35.848 is a manifestation of nothing less 00:07:35.848 --> 00:07:37.402 than legalism. 00:07:37.402 --> 00:07:40.980 It's simply wanting to be under a code of laws, 00:07:40.980 --> 00:07:42.291 a code of ethics, 00:07:42.291 --> 00:07:43.782 a list of rules, 00:07:43.782 --> 00:07:46.128 and you need your whole life guided by that. 00:07:46.128 --> 00:07:49.251 Show me the rule. 00:07:49.251 --> 00:07:51.103 There's just something about that. 00:07:51.103 --> 00:07:58.700 When I hear that kind of language, 00:07:58.700 --> 00:08:03.010 sometimes I'm amazed. 00:08:03.010 --> 00:08:05.889 And I'm not the only one. NOTE Paragraph 00:08:05.889 --> 00:08:07.260 Listen to this. 00:08:07.260 --> 00:08:11.280 Now, I know this quote isn't exactly 00:08:11.280 --> 00:08:13.771 along the line of what I'm talking about right now, 00:08:13.771 --> 00:08:14.696 but it's close. 00:08:14.696 --> 00:08:16.042 It's got some parallels. 00:08:16.042 --> 00:08:18.217 Listen to this. This is John Piper 00:08:18.217 --> 00:08:21.469 speaking actually about a quote 00:08:21.469 --> 00:08:27.123 that he got from J.I. Packer. 00:08:27.123 --> 00:08:28.401 Just hang with me here - 00:08:28.401 --> 00:08:30.133 there's a connection. You'll see it. 00:08:30.133 --> 00:08:31.700 Piper says this, "In the church, 00:08:31.700 --> 00:08:33.095 we've developed all kinds 00:08:33.095 --> 00:08:35.292 of Christ-coated remedies 00:08:35.292 --> 00:08:39.829 that are shallow and short-lived. 00:08:39.829 --> 00:08:43.055 We are not by and large the deeply grounded saints 00:08:43.055 --> 00:08:45.234 that some of our forefathers were. 00:08:45.234 --> 00:08:48.296 J.I. Packer compares the old English Puritans 00:08:48.296 --> 00:08:52.398 who lived and suffered from 1550 to 1700 00:08:52.398 --> 00:08:55.526 with the Redwoods of California. 00:08:55.526 --> 00:08:58.738 They were giants whose roots 00:08:58.738 --> 00:09:02.167 were incredibly deep in the Bible, 00:09:02.167 --> 00:09:05.767 and whose branches reached to the heavens, 00:09:05.767 --> 00:09:09.448 and whose trunks were so strong and durable 00:09:09.448 --> 00:09:11.538 they could endure forest fires 00:09:11.538 --> 00:09:13.814 that scar them but don't kill them. 00:09:13.814 --> 00:09:16.301 Packer says affluence seems 00:09:16.301 --> 00:09:18.659 for the past generation to be making 00:09:18.659 --> 00:09:21.765 dwarfs and deadheads of us all." NOTE Paragraph 00:09:21.765 --> 00:09:24.330 You see, that's what I don't want. 00:09:24.330 --> 00:09:32.631 I don't want a room full of dwarfs and deadheads. 00:09:32.631 --> 00:09:34.778 Brethren, if regeneration is real 00:09:34.778 --> 00:09:36.658 and it's the work of Almighty God 00:09:36.658 --> 00:09:38.207 and He has actually taken people 00:09:38.207 --> 00:09:40.210 and made new creations out of them, 00:09:40.210 --> 00:09:42.593 and if indeed like we're going to see on Sunday 00:09:42.593 --> 00:09:45.855 we're seated in heavenly places with Christ - 00:09:45.855 --> 00:09:49.242 if that is true of us, 00:09:49.242 --> 00:09:53.158 why are there not more Redwoods today? 00:09:53.158 --> 00:09:57.190 Why deadheads? 00:09:57.190 --> 00:09:59.308 Anyway... NOTE Paragraph 00:09:59.308 --> 00:10:01.703 "We do not have the patience 00:10:01.703 --> 00:10:04.902 to sink the roots of hospitality 00:10:04.902 --> 00:10:07.345 and brotherly kindness 00:10:07.345 --> 00:10:11.117 and authentic love in the deep rock 00:10:11.117 --> 00:10:14.046 of Romans 6-8." 00:10:14.046 --> 00:10:16.662 Piper was preaching through those chapters 00:10:16.662 --> 00:10:20.278 at the time that he said this. 00:10:20.278 --> 00:10:21.891 "We want to jump straight 00:10:21.891 --> 00:10:23.666 from the justification 00:10:23.666 --> 00:10:27.406 to the practical application of chapter 12. 00:10:27.406 --> 00:10:28.730 Just give us a list." 00:10:28.730 --> 00:10:31.418 The reason he goes to 12 - 00:10:31.418 --> 00:10:33.599 the reason he's talking 5 and 12, 00:10:33.599 --> 00:10:38.381 is because 5 deals with justification by faith. 00:10:38.381 --> 00:10:44.042 We have peace through God - if you think about 5:1. 00:10:44.042 --> 00:10:45.646 Our sins are forgiven 00:10:45.646 --> 00:10:49.230 based on the merits of what Jesus Christ did. 00:10:49.230 --> 00:10:50.816 Just tell me about my redemption. 00:10:50.816 --> 00:10:52.439 Tell me about my forgiveness. 00:10:52.439 --> 00:10:54.585 And then take me to the list of rules. 00:10:54.585 --> 00:10:57.316 Which, there are some lists of things 00:10:57.316 --> 00:10:58.963 if you remember, if you think, 00:10:58.963 --> 00:11:02.810 when you get 10 or 12 verses 00:11:02.810 --> 00:11:05.127 into Romans 12, 00:11:05.127 --> 00:11:09.006 you begin to get a list of various things 00:11:09.006 --> 00:11:10.246 that come at us. 00:11:10.246 --> 00:11:12.772 And he's saying that's how most people want to live. 00:11:12.772 --> 00:11:14.275 Tell me I'm forgiven. 00:11:14.275 --> 00:11:16.305 Now give me the list of things. 00:11:16.305 --> 00:11:18.482 So I can basically live my life that way. 00:11:18.482 --> 00:11:19.895 Do this. Don't do that. 00:11:19.895 --> 00:11:21.676 And just live our lives. 00:11:21.676 --> 00:11:25.048 But see, the thing that Piper's hitting at 00:11:25.048 --> 00:11:28.789 is that's what makes for shallow Christians. 00:11:28.789 --> 00:11:32.151 Tell me my sins are forgiven. Give me the list of things to do. 00:11:32.151 --> 00:11:37.595 That's not how we live the Christian life. NOTE Paragraph 00:11:37.595 --> 00:11:38.856 "Just give us a list. 00:11:38.856 --> 00:11:40.357 Tell us what to do. 00:11:40.357 --> 00:11:41.966 But the Puritans were different. 00:11:41.966 --> 00:11:43.773 They looked at the book of Romans 00:11:43.773 --> 00:11:46.503 and saw that life is built another way - 00:11:46.503 --> 00:11:49.269 being a sage, being a redwood, 00:11:49.269 --> 00:11:51.514 being unshakeable in storm 00:11:51.514 --> 00:11:55.228 and useful in times of indescribable suffering - 00:11:55.228 --> 00:11:58.672 that does not come quickly or easily. 00:11:58.672 --> 00:12:01.032 Romans is not two chapters long. 00:12:01.032 --> 00:12:03.719 It's 16 chapters long. 00:12:03.719 --> 00:12:07.609 It does not skip from chapter 5 to 12. 00:12:07.609 --> 00:12:11.006 It leads us deep down into the roots 00:12:11.006 --> 00:12:14.107 of godliness, so that when we come up, 00:12:14.107 --> 00:12:16.578 we're not people with lists." NOTE Paragraph 00:12:16.578 --> 00:12:18.046 You see, that's the thing. 00:12:18.046 --> 00:12:20.357 That's what's so amazing to me 00:12:20.357 --> 00:12:21.943 is when people say, 00:12:21.943 --> 00:12:24.276 "Show me in the Bible 00:12:24.276 --> 00:12:26.835 where I shouldn't do that." 00:12:26.835 --> 00:12:29.067 You see, that's where you want to say to them, 00:12:29.067 --> 00:12:33.255 "have you never read Romans 6-8? 00:12:33.255 --> 00:12:36.364 Have you never plunged down in the depths 00:12:36.364 --> 00:12:41.410 of 'sin no longer has dominion'?" 00:12:41.410 --> 00:12:45.344 Eternal life is at the end of: 00:12:45.344 --> 00:12:49.765 I've died to sin. I'm a slave to God. 00:12:49.765 --> 00:12:52.436 I'm now bearing this fruit 00:12:52.436 --> 00:12:54.153 unto sanctification. 00:12:54.153 --> 00:12:57.149 The end of all of this is eternal life. 00:12:57.149 --> 00:13:00.482 I'm not married to the law anymore. 00:13:00.482 --> 00:13:03.915 I'm married to Christ and there's freedom. 00:13:03.915 --> 00:13:06.486 Not freedom as a license to sin. 00:13:06.486 --> 00:13:08.956 A freedom to serve God. 00:13:08.956 --> 00:13:11.579 It's going through the depths 00:13:11.579 --> 00:13:13.380 of that kind of teaching 00:13:13.380 --> 00:13:21.954 before you ever get to any sort of list. 00:13:21.954 --> 00:13:25.770 It says, "It leads us down deep 00:13:25.770 --> 00:13:27.314 into the roots of godliness, 00:13:27.314 --> 00:13:28.617 so that when we come up, 00:13:28.617 --> 00:13:31.196 we're not people with lists, 00:13:31.196 --> 00:13:33.209 but people with unshakeable life 00:13:33.209 --> 00:13:34.615 and strength and holiness 00:13:34.615 --> 00:13:38.651 and wisdom and love." NOTE Paragraph 00:13:38.651 --> 00:13:40.669 Now, listen to another Piper quote. 00:13:40.669 --> 00:13:45.267 This is Piper - I believe it's when 00:13:45.267 --> 00:13:52.341 he did his biographical sketch 00:13:52.341 --> 00:13:53.789 of C.S. Lewis. 00:13:53.789 --> 00:13:55.821 And he was actually talking about 00:13:55.821 --> 00:13:57.409 as a young Christian, 00:13:57.409 --> 00:13:59.017 trying to sort things out, 00:13:59.017 --> 00:14:00.799 and he got exposure to C.S. Lewis. 00:14:00.799 --> 00:14:03.559 And look, there's much that Lewis 00:14:03.559 --> 00:14:06.526 says, does, did, believed - 00:14:06.526 --> 00:14:11.993 I would not stand by it at all. 00:14:11.993 --> 00:14:14.956 But here's what Piper said. 00:14:14.956 --> 00:14:17.249 "Somehow there had been wakened in me 00:14:17.249 --> 00:14:20.486 a passion for the essence 00:14:20.486 --> 00:14:24.512 and the main point of life. 00:14:24.512 --> 00:14:26.710 The ethical question whether something 00:14:26.710 --> 00:14:28.998 is permissible..." 00:14:28.998 --> 00:14:31.272 See, that's what he was dealing with. 00:14:31.272 --> 00:14:34.246 As a young Christian, this idea 00:14:34.246 --> 00:14:36.573 of asking that question all the time, 00:14:36.573 --> 00:14:38.486 just looking at something and saying, 00:14:38.486 --> 00:14:41.373 "is it permissible?" 00:14:41.373 --> 00:14:44.827 "...faded in relationship to the question: 00:14:44.827 --> 00:14:47.413 what is the main thing? The essential thing? 00:14:47.413 --> 00:14:49.290 The thought of building a life 00:14:49.290 --> 00:14:51.353 around minimal morality 00:14:51.353 --> 00:14:53.299 or minimal significance - 00:14:53.299 --> 00:14:55.713 a life defined by the question: 00:14:55.713 --> 00:14:57.081 what is permissible? - 00:14:57.081 --> 00:14:59.992 felt almost disgusting to me. 00:14:59.992 --> 00:15:01.576 I didn't want a minimal life. 00:15:01.576 --> 00:15:04.888 I didn't want to live on the outskirts of reality. 00:15:04.888 --> 00:15:08.207 I wanted to understand the main thing about life 00:15:08.207 --> 00:15:11.120 and pursue it." NOTE Paragraph 00:15:11.120 --> 00:15:13.451 Now, I know I've been quoting Piper. 00:15:13.451 --> 00:15:17.657 We're going to get to Scripture now. 00:15:17.657 --> 00:15:20.616 But brethren, if you think about it. 00:15:20.616 --> 00:15:24.238 Just think about the arguments 00:15:24.238 --> 00:15:26.024 of the epistles, 00:15:26.024 --> 00:15:28.260 or the way Jesus, when He had opportunity 00:15:28.260 --> 00:15:29.910 to pull His disciples aside - 00:15:29.910 --> 00:15:32.740 and He began teaching them. 00:15:32.740 --> 00:15:34.668 Where in the world do you ever find 00:15:34.668 --> 00:15:36.714 just a list of ethics? 00:15:36.714 --> 00:15:38.009 A list of morality? 00:15:38.009 --> 00:15:39.644 Christianity in the New Testament 00:15:39.644 --> 00:15:43.797 is not just a list of rules. 00:15:43.797 --> 00:15:46.408 "Show me in the Bible where it says I can't do that." 00:15:46.408 --> 00:15:48.413 Always looking for what's permissible. 00:15:48.413 --> 00:15:52.393 That's dismal, horrible kind of religion. 00:15:52.393 --> 00:15:55.006 Here's what Scripture says as we're thinking 00:15:55.006 --> 00:15:56.491 about the book of Romans. 00:15:56.491 --> 00:15:58.151 You know what's interesting? 00:15:58.151 --> 00:15:59.925 When you get to Romans 14 - 00:15:59.925 --> 00:16:05.359 and what do we all know Romans 14 for? 00:16:05.359 --> 00:16:07.359 What jumps out at you as being 00:16:07.359 --> 00:16:18.502 one of the key characteristics of Romans 14? 00:16:18.502 --> 00:16:23.902 Romans 14 is where it talks to us 00:16:23.902 --> 00:16:28.525 about having differences, right? 00:16:28.525 --> 00:16:31.040 Some eat. Some don't eat. 00:16:31.040 --> 00:16:32.485 Some observe the day. 00:16:32.485 --> 00:16:35.045 Some don't observe the day. 00:16:35.045 --> 00:16:37.525 Well, isn't that interesting? 00:16:37.525 --> 00:16:40.531 Let's just think right there. 00:16:40.531 --> 00:16:42.902 Is that a list of rules? 00:16:42.902 --> 00:16:45.587 Actually, that's Paul telling people: 00:16:45.587 --> 00:16:46.835 you know what? 00:16:46.835 --> 00:16:48.548 That guy over there can do it. 00:16:48.548 --> 00:16:51.188 That guy over there can't do it. 00:16:51.188 --> 00:16:54.143 She can eat. She doesn't eat. 00:16:54.143 --> 00:16:55.825 No list of rules. 00:16:55.825 --> 00:16:57.993 There's much bigger things 00:16:57.993 --> 00:16:59.934 than a list of rules. 00:16:59.934 --> 00:17:01.045 Isn't that right? 00:17:01.045 --> 00:17:03.204 And see, when he gets done with it, 00:17:03.204 --> 00:17:06.265 you know what he says? 00:17:06.265 --> 00:17:09.140 This is what? 14:17? 00:17:09.140 --> 00:17:13.428 He says the kingdom of God 00:17:13.428 --> 00:17:19.320 is not all about eating and drinking. 00:17:19.320 --> 00:17:20.808 What's that? 00:17:20.808 --> 00:17:23.453 That's rules. 00:17:23.453 --> 00:17:25.351 It's not about a list of rules 00:17:25.351 --> 00:17:28.415 as to whether I can drink alcohol or not. 00:17:28.415 --> 00:17:30.896 That's not how you live your life. 00:17:30.896 --> 00:17:32.234 It's not simply: 00:17:32.234 --> 00:17:35.198 is it permissible for a Christian to drink wine? 00:17:35.198 --> 00:17:37.254 After all, Jesus Christ - look what He did 00:17:37.254 --> 00:17:38.675 over there at the wedding. 00:17:38.675 --> 00:17:40.595 That's not how you live. 00:17:40.595 --> 00:17:44.603 Yes, we take those things into consideration. 00:17:44.603 --> 00:17:48.160 We look at them, but as we live out our life, 00:17:48.160 --> 00:17:50.331 the question we're not always asking 00:17:50.331 --> 00:17:51.858 is: is it permissible? 00:17:51.858 --> 00:17:53.422 Can I eat? Can I not eat? 00:17:53.422 --> 00:17:54.883 Yes, there are verses that say 00:17:54.883 --> 00:17:56.622 that if you forbid people to eat, 00:17:56.622 --> 00:17:57.900 it's demonic doctrine. 00:17:57.900 --> 00:17:59.808 There are those who come along and say 00:17:59.808 --> 00:18:01.422 you can't eat, you can't marry. 00:18:01.422 --> 00:18:03.494 We know. There's demon doctrine out there. 00:18:03.494 --> 00:18:05.777 We need to be able to distinguish between them. 00:18:05.777 --> 00:18:07.962 But brethren, can't you hear Paul here? 00:18:07.962 --> 00:18:09.649 He's saying to the Romans 00:18:09.649 --> 00:18:11.609 there's bigger issues 00:18:11.609 --> 00:18:14.392 than rules around eating and drinking. 00:18:14.392 --> 00:18:17.279 That's not the issue. 00:18:17.279 --> 00:18:24.580 The kingdom of God is about righteousness. 00:18:24.580 --> 00:18:26.901 What else? 00:18:26.901 --> 00:18:29.765 It's about peace. 00:18:29.765 --> 00:18:35.141 It's about joy in the Holy Spirit. 00:18:35.141 --> 00:18:38.510 You see, joy in the Holy Spirit. NOTE Paragraph 00:18:38.510 --> 00:18:41.152 I just had a meeting not too long before 00:18:41.152 --> 00:18:43.115 the Bible study tonight. 00:18:43.115 --> 00:18:46.649 And a sister was telling me about 00:18:46.649 --> 00:18:48.254 a season in her life 00:18:48.254 --> 00:18:51.828 where she lacked assurance. 00:18:51.828 --> 00:18:55.795 And she told me right off, 00:18:55.795 --> 00:18:59.308 she'd grieved the Spirit. She knew it. 00:18:59.308 --> 00:19:00.858 Joy in the Holy Spirit. 00:19:00.858 --> 00:19:03.642 See, those are the kind of questions to be asking. 00:19:03.642 --> 00:19:06.354 Is this going to bring any shadow 00:19:06.354 --> 00:19:08.522 between me and the Lord? 00:19:08.522 --> 00:19:09.814 Because I don't want that. 00:19:09.814 --> 00:19:12.871 See, it's not, "is it permissible?" 00:19:12.871 --> 00:19:14.689 I feel like Piper - 00:19:14.689 --> 00:19:18.867 that kind of thinking is disgusting 00:19:18.867 --> 00:19:22.206 for a Christian to even think on that level - 00:19:22.206 --> 00:19:24.833 or professing Christian. 00:19:24.833 --> 00:19:27.666 In the end, what we're going to find 00:19:27.666 --> 00:19:29.527 is many people who talk that way - 00:19:29.527 --> 00:19:30.954 the reason they talk that way 00:19:30.954 --> 00:19:32.665 is because they're under the law. 00:19:32.665 --> 00:19:34.761 And that's how people under the law think. 00:19:34.761 --> 00:19:36.825 That's how slaves think. 00:19:36.825 --> 00:19:38.981 (incomplete thought) NOTE Paragraph 00:19:38.981 --> 00:19:41.079 See, the slave doesn't enjoy 00:19:41.079 --> 00:19:45.742 what the master tells him to do. 00:19:45.742 --> 00:19:48.811 But he's always aware of the law, 00:19:48.811 --> 00:19:50.189 of the rules. 00:19:50.189 --> 00:19:51.896 Because if he doesn't do the rule, 00:19:51.896 --> 00:19:53.760 what's going to happen? 00:19:53.760 --> 00:19:55.516 He's going to get punished. 00:19:55.516 --> 00:19:56.775 He's going to get whipped. 00:19:56.775 --> 00:19:57.898 He's going to get beat. 00:19:57.898 --> 00:20:01.215 He's going to get his leg chopped off. 00:20:01.215 --> 00:20:02.695 You do what the master says 00:20:02.695 --> 00:20:04.307 or there's consequences. 00:20:04.307 --> 00:20:07.415 See, you're always mindful of the rules. 00:20:07.415 --> 00:20:09.425 The rules, the rules, the rules. 00:20:09.425 --> 00:20:12.632 That is to be under the law. 00:20:12.632 --> 00:20:14.395 (incomplete thought) 00:20:14.395 --> 00:20:18.015 The legalist is absorbed with rules 00:20:18.015 --> 00:20:21.186 rather than with God; 00:20:21.186 --> 00:20:23.738 rather than with his fellow man 00:20:23.738 --> 00:20:25.047 in true holiness. 00:20:25.047 --> 00:20:30.511 Life is viewed as primarily what I do. 00:20:30.511 --> 00:20:32.802 It's breaking all my actions down. 00:20:32.802 --> 00:20:34.360 The do's, the don't's, 00:20:34.360 --> 00:20:39.791 the particular actions all in terms of: 00:20:39.791 --> 00:20:41.279 is it permissible? 00:20:41.279 --> 00:20:42.876 Is it not? 00:20:42.876 --> 00:20:50.304 Versus: the kingdom of God 00:20:50.304 --> 00:20:54.451 is about righteousness. 00:20:54.451 --> 00:20:58.159 It's about what pleases the King. 00:20:58.159 --> 00:20:59.362 See, righteousness - 00:20:59.362 --> 00:21:01.364 that's the character of the King, 00:21:01.364 --> 00:21:02.640 the Kingdom of God. 00:21:02.640 --> 00:21:04.688 That's the character of the King Himself. 00:21:04.688 --> 00:21:06.599 What is the character of God? 00:21:06.599 --> 00:21:07.857 How can I be like Him? NOTE Paragraph 00:21:07.857 --> 00:21:09.769 What does Peter say? 00:21:09.769 --> 00:21:12.054 Does Peter not call us to be holy? 00:21:12.054 --> 00:21:15.761 Why? 00:21:15.761 --> 00:21:22.952 Be ye holy. Why? 00:21:22.952 --> 00:21:24.936 What's the argument? 00:21:24.936 --> 00:21:26.401 Come on, folks. 00:21:26.401 --> 00:21:28.251 James: They're whispering back here. 00:21:28.251 --> 00:21:29.901 Tim: Let's be aggressive. 00:21:29.901 --> 00:21:34.172 What was it? 00:21:34.172 --> 00:21:44.311 Yeah, you shall be holy, for I am holy. NOTE Paragraph 00:21:44.311 --> 00:21:49.375 Listen to Ephesians 4. 00:21:49.375 --> 00:21:51.307 Ephesians 4:17 and following. 00:21:51.307 --> 00:21:53.998 We're going to come to this in our studies, 00:21:53.998 --> 00:21:55.806 but you know what? 00:21:55.806 --> 00:21:58.009 Paul comes along and he says 00:21:58.009 --> 00:22:01.050 you shouldn't walk like Gentiles any longer. 00:22:01.050 --> 00:22:02.895 You shouldn't act like them. 00:22:02.895 --> 00:22:06.888 You shouldn't live your lives that way, 00:22:06.888 --> 00:22:08.384 walk like the Gentiles do 00:22:08.384 --> 00:22:09.876 in the futility of their mind. 00:22:09.876 --> 00:22:12.314 He basically breaks down how they live. 00:22:12.314 --> 00:22:14.342 They're alienated from the life of God. 00:22:14.342 --> 00:22:16.900 They're living in all this sensuality. 00:22:16.900 --> 00:22:19.331 What's the reason? 00:22:19.331 --> 00:22:21.158 Because Jesus Christ gave you a list 00:22:21.158 --> 00:22:22.956 of do's and don't's? 00:22:22.956 --> 00:22:25.264 You know what he says? 00:22:25.264 --> 00:22:31.177 That is not the way you learned Christ, 00:22:31.177 --> 00:22:34.192 assuming that you have learned Him. 00:22:34.192 --> 00:22:36.747 Isn't that interesting? He tacks that on the end. 00:22:36.747 --> 00:22:39.234 You see, that's the issue. 00:22:39.234 --> 00:22:43.388 How did you learn Christ? NOTE Paragraph 00:22:43.388 --> 00:22:48.637 Let me ask you this - 00:22:48.637 --> 00:22:52.903 I would just ask you all this: 00:22:52.903 --> 00:22:56.927 When you do something with your life, 00:22:56.927 --> 00:23:01.717 how did you learn Christ? 00:23:01.717 --> 00:23:03.564 I mean, that's the kind of question 00:23:03.564 --> 00:23:05.654 that needs to be going through your mind. 00:23:05.654 --> 00:23:07.541 You know what I learn about Him? 00:23:07.541 --> 00:23:10.560 I learn when I get to the book of Acts, 00:23:10.560 --> 00:23:15.062 He came and He went about doing good. 00:23:15.062 --> 00:23:16.513 You know what's amazing to me? 00:23:16.513 --> 00:23:19.197 Well, you think about this. 00:23:19.197 --> 00:23:21.141 You all now what's happening out there 00:23:21.141 --> 00:23:23.768 in social media and what the discussions are about 00:23:23.768 --> 00:23:24.926 far more than I do. 00:23:24.926 --> 00:23:28.549 Let me ask you a question. 00:23:28.549 --> 00:23:33.809 The people who it seems like 00:23:33.809 --> 00:23:36.248 are legalists - 00:23:36.248 --> 00:23:37.810 show them a rule. 00:23:37.810 --> 00:23:39.547 That's how they talk all the time. 00:23:39.547 --> 00:23:40.830 Show me a rule for that. 00:23:40.830 --> 00:23:45.151 Show me a rule for that. 00:23:45.151 --> 00:23:49.740 Is that who you want for a husband or wife? 00:23:49.740 --> 00:23:56.305 "I want you to hug me." "Show me a rule for that!" 00:23:56.305 --> 00:23:58.756 Look, if you start to even contemplate 00:23:58.756 --> 00:24:00.587 that on that level - 00:24:00.587 --> 00:24:02.902 a wife says, "I want my husband to hold me," 00:24:02.902 --> 00:24:06.449 and the husband says, "show me a rule for that." 00:24:06.449 --> 00:24:08.413 You don't want a husband like that. 00:24:08.413 --> 00:24:10.007 Can you see how God would be 00:24:10.007 --> 00:24:11.550 absolutely disgusted 00:24:11.550 --> 00:24:16.225 with that kind of life? 00:24:16.225 --> 00:24:17.846 Listen, there is a huge difference 00:24:17.846 --> 00:24:21.414 between morality and holiness. 00:24:21.414 --> 00:24:24.052 This idea of just basically living your life 00:24:24.052 --> 00:24:26.017 according to some moral code: 00:24:26.017 --> 00:24:27.415 "Show me where it says that." 00:24:27.415 --> 00:24:29.381 "Show me where I have to do that." NOTE Paragraph 00:24:29.381 --> 00:24:35.290 Like this argument against evangelism. 00:24:35.290 --> 00:24:36.412 People who say, 00:24:36.412 --> 00:24:37.705 "Show me in the Bible..." 00:24:37.705 --> 00:24:39.360 Back in William Carey's day, 00:24:39.360 --> 00:24:40.779 that was a big thing. 00:24:40.779 --> 00:24:43.008 They wanted to downplay the Great Commission 00:24:43.008 --> 00:24:45.803 as though it was only for the apostles. 00:24:45.803 --> 00:24:47.739 Carey came along and said - 00:24:47.739 --> 00:24:49.465 he used numerous arguments, 00:24:49.465 --> 00:24:50.589 but his main one being, 00:24:50.589 --> 00:24:52.871 look, the promise is that Christ will be with us 00:24:52.871 --> 00:24:54.372 to the end of the age. 00:24:54.372 --> 00:24:57.115 Doesn't that mean that our responsibility 00:24:57.115 --> 00:24:58.489 to go to all of the nations 00:24:58.489 --> 00:25:00.244 is a responsibility that lasts 00:25:00.244 --> 00:25:02.094 as long as the promise does? 00:25:02.094 --> 00:25:03.668 Certainly so. NOTE Paragraph 00:25:03.668 --> 00:25:06.917 But look, let me just ask this. 00:25:06.917 --> 00:25:10.568 It's the old: if you have the cure for cancer, 00:25:10.568 --> 00:25:15.647 and the world all around you is dying of cancer... 00:25:15.647 --> 00:25:17.942 "Show me a rule where it says I have to go share 00:25:17.942 --> 00:25:21.154 the remedy with everybody else." 00:25:21.154 --> 00:25:22.980 See, that's what the legalist does. 00:25:22.980 --> 00:25:24.220 Show me the law. 00:25:24.220 --> 00:25:26.617 Show me the rule. 00:25:26.617 --> 00:25:31.057 I don't care if the rest of the world goes to hell. 00:25:31.057 --> 00:25:34.750 You see what's operating there? 00:25:34.750 --> 00:25:38.450 The kingdom is not about a list of rules. 00:25:38.450 --> 00:25:42.047 It's Jesus saying love one another 00:25:42.047 --> 00:25:43.411 the way I loved you. 00:25:43.411 --> 00:25:45.303 Now, I know that's among Christians, 00:25:45.303 --> 00:25:48.578 but we have a responsibility to love our neighbor as ourselves 00:25:48.578 --> 00:25:50.448 out there in this world. 00:25:50.448 --> 00:25:54.054 If I have the remedy 00:25:54.054 --> 00:25:57.641 to save people's souls from hell, 00:25:57.641 --> 00:26:01.518 am I going to sit there and debate? 00:26:01.525 --> 00:26:05.000 "Show me in the Bible where I have to go do that!" 00:26:05.000 --> 00:26:09.844 It's like what is wrong with you? 00:26:09.844 --> 00:26:13.169 Something is wrong with that person. 00:26:13.169 --> 00:26:15.775 Just like something is wrong with the person 00:26:15.775 --> 00:26:17.350 that can come out of a movie 00:26:17.350 --> 00:26:20.853 with 50 F-bombs dropped in the middle of it - 00:26:20.853 --> 00:26:23.992 "Show me in the Bible where I can't do that." 00:26:23.992 --> 00:26:25.448 It's like seriously? 00:26:25.448 --> 00:26:30.377 Let me ask you guys a question. 00:26:30.377 --> 00:26:33.369 If you were in the worst part - 00:26:33.369 --> 00:26:35.783 not of this city, this is a rather tame city - 00:26:35.783 --> 00:26:39.984 let's talk St. Louis or Detroit or Chicago. 00:26:39.984 --> 00:26:42.196 You imagine you're in one of the worst parts 00:26:42.196 --> 00:26:43.998 of one of those cities. 00:26:43.998 --> 00:26:47.521 You're in an alley. 00:26:47.521 --> 00:26:49.002 And you see four guys - 00:26:49.002 --> 00:26:51.611 all you can see is their silhouette 00:26:51.611 --> 00:26:53.531 from the streetlight behind them. 00:26:53.531 --> 00:26:55.582 They're walking down the alley towards you 00:26:55.582 --> 00:27:00.506 and they're huge. 00:27:00.506 --> 00:27:03.739 Would it comfort you more 00:27:03.739 --> 00:27:06.681 to know that they had just come out of a Bible study? 00:27:06.681 --> 00:27:09.293 Or that all four of them just came out of a movie 00:27:09.293 --> 00:27:10.886 where 50 F-bombs were dropped? 00:27:10.886 --> 00:27:13.727 Which would make you feel more comfortable 00:27:13.727 --> 00:27:18.272 walking down that alley? NOTE Paragraph 00:27:18.272 --> 00:27:20.272 There's testimony issues. 00:27:20.272 --> 00:27:23.429 Let me ask you this. 00:27:23.429 --> 00:27:25.992 The guy who's always arguing about why 00:27:25.992 --> 00:27:28.735 he doesn't have a biblical responsibility 00:27:28.735 --> 00:27:32.490 to evangelize, 00:27:32.490 --> 00:27:34.157 or just questions like that: 00:27:34.157 --> 00:27:36.708 "Show me in the Bible where I'm supposed to do that." 00:27:36.708 --> 00:27:39.870 If you were sick at the end of your life 00:27:39.870 --> 00:27:43.532 and you had to be cared for by somebody, 00:27:43.532 --> 00:27:45.327 is that the kind of person you want 00:27:45.327 --> 00:27:47.843 caring for you? 00:27:47.843 --> 00:27:51.464 "Show me in the Bible where it says that!" 00:27:51.464 --> 00:27:55.809 That doesn't produce righteousness 00:27:55.809 --> 00:28:01.382 and peace and joy and love. 00:28:01.382 --> 00:28:02.801 You know what does that? 00:28:02.801 --> 00:28:04.152 Learning of Jesus. 00:28:04.152 --> 00:28:08.506 Jesus said, "Learn of Me." 00:28:08.506 --> 00:28:11.472 He said, "Take My yoke." 00:28:11.472 --> 00:28:13.464 He said, "Learn of Me." 00:28:13.464 --> 00:28:15.878 You see, that's where Paul's coming from. 00:28:15.878 --> 00:28:20.211 That's not the way you learned Jesus Christ. NOTE Paragraph 00:28:20.211 --> 00:28:22.873 Oh brethren, think with me here. 00:28:22.873 --> 00:28:24.932 Many of you know from Brother Charles' book 00:28:24.932 --> 00:28:28.114 about the story of Evangeline Booth. 00:28:28.114 --> 00:28:30.917 William Booth, Salvation Army - 00:28:30.917 --> 00:28:32.831 his daughter. 00:28:32.831 --> 00:28:36.089 You know the story if you've read the book. 00:28:36.089 --> 00:28:38.814 Perhaps some of you know it beyond there. 00:28:38.814 --> 00:28:40.793 Where they were bringing the woman - 00:28:40.793 --> 00:28:44.008 prisoner, guards carrying her. 00:28:44.008 --> 00:28:46.675 There's Evangeline standing off to the side. 00:28:46.675 --> 00:28:48.079 "How can I reach this woman?" 00:28:48.079 --> 00:28:51.102 Suddenly, she just steps out there 00:28:51.102 --> 00:28:55.695 and kisses the woman on the cheek. 00:28:55.695 --> 00:29:00.128 Show me a law that says you have to do that. 00:29:00.128 --> 00:29:02.397 There's no law. 00:29:02.397 --> 00:29:06.317 There's no rule. 00:29:06.317 --> 00:29:09.345 I can tell you if I'm at the end of my life 00:29:09.345 --> 00:29:10.998 and you're saying, 00:29:10.998 --> 00:29:13.020 who do you want to care for you? 00:29:13.020 --> 00:29:15.035 The person who could go 00:29:15.035 --> 00:29:22.421 watch filthy, bloody, profane, 00:29:22.421 --> 00:29:26.240 God's name dragged through the mud movies, 00:29:26.240 --> 00:29:28.744 sex - and want to defend their right 00:29:28.744 --> 00:29:31.974 to go watch it. 00:29:31.974 --> 00:29:33.493 You're at the end of your life. 00:29:33.493 --> 00:29:35.474 Do you want that person to care for you? 00:29:35.474 --> 00:29:39.196 Or Evangeline Booth? 00:29:39.196 --> 00:29:42.098 Brethren, it speaks volumes. NOTE Paragraph 00:29:42.098 --> 00:29:48.005 There is a kind of New Testament Christianity - 00:29:48.005 --> 00:29:54.234 do you learn from Christ 00:29:54.234 --> 00:29:57.059 that going to movies like that - 00:29:57.059 --> 00:30:00.345 would He do it? 00:30:00.345 --> 00:30:08.777 Look, if you say yes, I believe He would, 00:30:08.777 --> 00:30:12.114 then you have a different Christ than the One I have. 00:30:12.114 --> 00:30:14.626 What I have isn't the issue. 00:30:14.626 --> 00:30:17.799 That's a different Christ than the One here. 00:30:17.799 --> 00:30:22.817 Here's the problem with people like that. 00:30:22.817 --> 00:30:26.297 They go through their life constantly asking what's permissible, 00:30:26.297 --> 00:30:30.030 rather than what can I do? 00:30:30.030 --> 00:30:36.832 You see, when I hear about the fact 00:30:36.832 --> 00:30:39.498 that we're supposed to let our good works 00:30:39.498 --> 00:30:42.304 be seen before men 00:30:42.304 --> 00:30:44.539 that they might glorify our Father in Heaven; 00:30:44.539 --> 00:30:45.636 or like Peter says, 00:30:45.636 --> 00:30:47.638 "glorify God in the day of visitation," - 00:30:47.638 --> 00:30:50.290 again, it's got to do with them seeing our good works. 00:30:50.290 --> 00:30:54.626 And Jesus saying, "The works I did, you will do..." believer. 00:30:54.626 --> 00:30:55.858 Greater works. 00:30:55.858 --> 00:30:57.368 You see, one of the things is, 00:30:57.368 --> 00:30:58.900 people that are always asking, 00:30:58.900 --> 00:31:01.162 "Where's the line?" "Where's the minimal line?" 00:31:01.162 --> 00:31:02.647 "What's permissible?" 00:31:02.647 --> 00:31:04.360 "What can I get away with?" 00:31:04.360 --> 00:31:08.059 "Show me in the Bible where it says that." 00:31:08.059 --> 00:31:14.211 You know what people like that are not doing? 00:31:14.211 --> 00:31:16.461 All they're doing is walking through life 00:31:16.461 --> 00:31:21.739 constrained by legalistic codes, 00:31:21.739 --> 00:31:27.787 and they're not people who just freely fly 00:31:27.787 --> 00:31:33.189 on the wings of an eagle to do good. 00:31:33.189 --> 00:31:37.581 Brethren, the life of the Christian is not just: 00:31:37.581 --> 00:31:40.611 "Show me where I can't do that." 00:31:40.611 --> 00:31:42.588 (Incomplete thought) NOTE Paragraph 00:31:42.588 --> 00:31:45.597 I met with a couple today 00:31:45.597 --> 00:31:49.082 who were telling me about their desires 00:31:49.082 --> 00:31:57.608 to help care for inner city kids. 00:31:57.608 --> 00:32:01.015 Again, I ask you, 00:32:01.015 --> 00:32:05.207 you're 89 years old. 00:32:05.207 --> 00:32:07.731 A family member, somebody from the church, 00:32:07.731 --> 00:32:10.912 somebody's going to take care of you. 00:32:10.912 --> 00:32:12.702 You want it to be the person 00:32:12.702 --> 00:32:15.994 who is thinking: how can I care for children? 00:32:15.994 --> 00:32:20.385 Versus living their life like: 00:32:20.385 --> 00:32:21.692 "I can go to that movie." 00:32:21.692 --> 00:32:25.957 "Show me in the Bible where it says I can't." 00:32:25.957 --> 00:32:29.331 What kind of Christianity do you all want? 00:32:29.331 --> 00:32:32.379 What kind of person would you want caring for you? 00:32:32.379 --> 00:32:35.883 What kind of person would you want to meet in that alley? NOTE Paragraph 00:32:39.123 --> 00:32:41.368 Righteousness, peace, 00:32:41.368 --> 00:32:44.691 joy in the Holy Spirit. 00:32:44.691 --> 00:32:47.069 Morality - it's always concerned 00:32:47.069 --> 00:32:49.790 with specific actions. 00:32:49.790 --> 00:32:53.912 Where holiness is a life picture. 00:32:53.912 --> 00:32:58.201 Am I being conformed to the image of God? 00:32:58.201 --> 00:33:01.213 Am I being conformed to the image of Christ? 00:33:01.213 --> 00:33:06.022 Is true righteousness all of my life? 00:33:06.022 --> 00:33:07.731 Is it there? 00:33:07.731 --> 00:33:11.833 Brethren, everything in the legalist's mind 00:33:11.833 --> 00:33:14.946 just gets boiled down to individual actions. 00:33:14.946 --> 00:33:16.027 "Is it permissible?" 00:33:16.027 --> 00:33:17.440 "Is it right? Is it wrong?" 00:33:17.440 --> 00:33:20.232 "Give me a rule." "Give me rules." 00:33:20.232 --> 00:33:22.795 You see, that's what Packer was saying 00:33:22.795 --> 00:33:23.982 about the Puritans. 00:33:23.982 --> 00:33:26.138 Their lives are buried deep. 00:33:26.138 --> 00:33:29.387 It's kind of like the doctrines we're going through in Ephesians. 00:33:29.387 --> 00:33:32.504 You notice, this is not a list of rules. 00:33:32.504 --> 00:33:34.691 What we're dealing with is Paul 00:33:34.691 --> 00:33:35.971 saying to Christians, 00:33:35.971 --> 00:33:39.341 as you live your life, live in the reality: 00:33:39.341 --> 00:33:41.924 alive with Christ, raised up with Christ, 00:33:41.924 --> 00:33:44.583 seated with Christ in the heavenly places 00:33:44.583 --> 00:33:45.914 in Christ Jesus. 00:33:45.914 --> 00:33:47.345 That's the reality. 00:33:47.345 --> 00:33:49.653 We're living life on another plane. 00:33:49.653 --> 00:33:52.265 We're going to look at texts 00:33:52.265 --> 00:33:54.971 that tie in over to Colossians. 00:33:54.971 --> 00:33:57.592 But you're setting your minds on things above 00:33:57.592 --> 00:33:59.202 where Christ is seated. 00:33:59.202 --> 00:34:01.018 You're living on another plane. 00:34:01.018 --> 00:34:02.593 You're living in another realm. 00:34:02.593 --> 00:34:08.190 You're outside of this minimal morality mentality. 00:34:08.190 --> 00:34:09.970 (incomplete thought). NOTE Paragraph 00:34:09.970 --> 00:34:12.706 Brethren, don't you see 00:34:12.706 --> 00:34:14.826 when you come to the New Testament, 00:34:14.826 --> 00:34:19.787 and you find the legalists were always like: 00:34:19.787 --> 00:34:22.187 "Hey! Hey! Put down your bedding! 00:34:22.187 --> 00:34:23.703 What do you think you're doing? 00:34:23.703 --> 00:34:25.251 It's the Sabbath! 00:34:25.251 --> 00:34:29.932 Not permissible to do that!" 00:34:29.932 --> 00:34:33.277 You see, we can look and we can say, 00:34:33.277 --> 00:34:36.520 yeah, how did David eat the show bread 00:34:36.520 --> 00:34:40.827 which he was not supposed to eat? 00:34:40.827 --> 00:34:43.136 Because brethren, that right there 00:34:43.136 --> 00:34:45.627 goes to the heart of the matter. 00:34:45.627 --> 00:34:48.641 Paul made as strong a case as anybody in the Scriptures 00:34:48.641 --> 00:34:52.309 that you should pay those who minister the gospel. 00:34:52.309 --> 00:34:54.454 And yet, he was the first one to say 00:34:54.454 --> 00:34:58.009 to the Corinthians and to the Thessalonians, 00:34:58.009 --> 00:35:00.415 "I'm not going to take anything." 00:35:00.415 --> 00:35:02.541 Wait! 00:35:02.541 --> 00:35:04.428 You set down a law! 00:35:04.428 --> 00:35:06.542 Don't muzzle the ox! 00:35:06.542 --> 00:35:08.253 That's the law! 00:35:08.253 --> 00:35:11.339 You better pay me! 00:35:11.339 --> 00:35:13.378 (incomplete thought) 00:35:13.378 --> 00:35:15.515 You see, you miss it. 00:35:15.515 --> 00:35:20.851 You miss it if you don't recognize 00:35:20.851 --> 00:35:23.836 that Jesus let the adulteress walk. 00:35:23.836 --> 00:35:25.590 You say, hey, wait a second. 00:35:25.590 --> 00:35:28.835 The law said stone her. 00:35:28.835 --> 00:35:31.292 Or He healed on the Sabbath. 00:35:31.292 --> 00:35:35.221 Or He let His disciples pick grain, 00:35:35.221 --> 00:35:38.761 rub them in their hands and eat. 00:35:38.761 --> 00:35:40.954 Or He told the lame 00:35:40.954 --> 00:35:44.345 to pick up their bedding and walk. 00:35:44.345 --> 00:35:50.546 They were "breaking the rules." 00:35:50.546 --> 00:35:53.076 (Incomplete thought). 00:35:53.076 --> 00:35:56.012 But you see, if you're just 00:35:56.012 --> 00:36:00.036 contrained by rules, 00:36:00.036 --> 00:36:06.052 you don't get it. 00:36:06.052 --> 00:36:08.462 Jesus looked at those Pharisees and He said, 00:36:08.462 --> 00:36:11.411 "That's exactly your problem. 00:36:11.411 --> 00:36:13.292 You're all about rules." 00:36:13.292 --> 00:36:16.211 And all rules do is they leave you on the surface - 00:36:16.211 --> 00:36:17.945 this thin veneer of morality. 00:36:17.945 --> 00:36:21.176 That's all it is, because in the heart, it's a person under the law. 00:36:21.176 --> 00:36:23.164 Because in the heart, they really don't want to do it. 00:36:23.164 --> 00:36:24.356 They're just keeping the rule 00:36:24.356 --> 00:36:26.054 because they're afraid of the punishment; 00:36:26.054 --> 00:36:28.607 they're afraid of the consequences if they don't do it. 00:36:28.607 --> 00:36:34.302 They're just trapped in there. 00:36:34.302 --> 00:36:38.110 Rather than standing back and saying: 00:36:38.110 --> 00:36:43.623 Look, I want mercy, not sacrifice. 00:36:43.623 --> 00:36:48.287 That's all the rule keeping is is sacrifice. 00:36:48.287 --> 00:36:50.364 If you could prove to that person, 00:36:50.364 --> 00:36:52.590 like, you go over to Ephesians 5 00:36:52.590 --> 00:36:57.121 and you say, look, filthiness, 00:36:57.121 --> 00:37:03.553 crude jesting, it's not appropriate. 00:37:03.553 --> 00:37:05.549 Oh, okay, you showed me the rule. 00:37:05.549 --> 00:37:07.896 Okay, the movie that I wanted to go see, 00:37:07.896 --> 00:37:14.119 now I can't because I've got a law. 00:37:14.119 --> 00:37:17.963 That is such the wrong way. 00:37:17.963 --> 00:37:20.247 The wrong way. NOTE Paragraph 00:37:20.247 --> 00:37:23.234 Brethren, you know what you find? 00:37:23.234 --> 00:37:25.659 The Apostle Paul - think of Philippians 3. 00:37:25.659 --> 00:37:29.489 The Apostle Paul, when he was lost - 00:37:29.489 --> 00:37:34.432 religious, moral. 00:37:34.432 --> 00:37:36.912 It's all about the rules. 00:37:36.912 --> 00:37:41.960 Boy, I was circumcised on the right day 00:37:41.960 --> 00:37:44.358 according to the rule. 00:37:44.358 --> 00:37:47.075 I mean, when it came to the law, 00:37:47.075 --> 00:37:50.872 I dotted every "I", I crossed every "t." 00:37:50.872 --> 00:37:52.478 I was right on. 00:37:52.478 --> 00:37:56.436 I was blameless. 00:37:56.436 --> 00:37:59.068 Give me a rule - I was right there. 00:37:59.068 --> 00:38:01.890 I kept them. 00:38:01.890 --> 00:38:05.741 But what happens once he's saved? 00:38:05.741 --> 00:38:08.038 You see how his attitude changed? 00:38:08.038 --> 00:38:09.180 What does he say then? 00:38:09.180 --> 00:38:13.283 Oh, that I might know Him 00:38:13.283 --> 00:38:18.471 and the power of His resurrection. 00:38:18.471 --> 00:38:22.815 Look, we live our lives; 00:38:22.815 --> 00:38:25.473 we do things. 00:38:25.473 --> 00:38:27.975 But it's not a matter of a list of right or wrong, 00:38:27.975 --> 00:38:29.759 just like Romans 14. 00:38:29.759 --> 00:38:37.643 It's not: could I in certain circumstance 00:38:37.643 --> 00:38:40.384 drink wine? 00:38:40.384 --> 00:38:45.156 It's not just the rule. 00:38:45.156 --> 00:38:47.122 Paul's looking back and he's looking 00:38:47.122 --> 00:38:49.330 at how this affects people; 00:38:49.330 --> 00:38:52.892 how your decisions are a reflection 00:38:52.892 --> 00:38:54.366 of God Himself; 00:38:54.366 --> 00:38:57.266 how it reflects what you've been taught of Christ; 00:38:57.266 --> 00:38:59.130 how it reflects righteousness; 00:38:59.130 --> 00:39:01.267 how it reflects peace; 00:39:01.267 --> 00:39:03.999 how it reflects joy in the Holy Spirit. 00:39:03.999 --> 00:39:12.762 It's just living on an entirely higher plane. 00:39:12.762 --> 00:39:15.013 It's got to do with what does God think? 00:39:15.013 --> 00:39:16.358 What's His will? 00:39:16.358 --> 00:39:17.793 What's going to be pleasing? 00:39:17.793 --> 00:39:19.968 What's going to bring His smile? 00:39:19.968 --> 00:39:26.825 It's living on that level. 00:39:26.825 --> 00:39:29.322 (incomplete thought) 00:39:29.322 --> 00:39:31.335 Listen, you know the Bible talks about 00:39:31.335 --> 00:39:33.000 bad companionship 00:39:33.000 --> 00:39:35.341 corrupts good manners. 00:39:35.341 --> 00:39:36.914 And you can go to the Proverbs 00:39:36.914 --> 00:39:38.672 and you could find: 00:39:38.672 --> 00:39:40.335 you want to be wise? 00:39:40.335 --> 00:39:41.599 Walk with the wise. 00:39:41.599 --> 00:39:44.387 You want to be a fool? Walk with fools. 00:39:44.387 --> 00:39:46.259 You know what? 00:39:46.259 --> 00:39:51.650 It's almost like with the invention of electricity, 00:39:51.650 --> 00:39:58.745 we don't define companions 00:39:58.745 --> 00:40:00.700 the right way anymore. NOTE Paragraph 00:40:00.700 --> 00:40:02.637 I read a story one time 00:40:02.637 --> 00:40:08.921 about a family that let an old man 00:40:08.921 --> 00:40:10.779 move into their house. 00:40:10.779 --> 00:40:13.431 And he sat over in the corner. 00:40:13.431 --> 00:40:16.266 And he was filthy. He was lewd. 00:40:16.266 --> 00:40:18.690 He used God's name in vain. 00:40:18.690 --> 00:40:23.794 He just did graphic things, 00:40:23.794 --> 00:40:26.784 and the whole gist of the story 00:40:26.784 --> 00:40:29.692 was that old man sitting in the corner 00:40:29.692 --> 00:40:33.426 doing all those things and being tolerated by the family 00:40:33.426 --> 00:40:38.311 was a picture of the television. 00:40:38.311 --> 00:40:40.957 The thing is it's almost like 00:40:40.957 --> 00:40:44.199 we have come to the place where we think 00:40:44.199 --> 00:40:49.084 that a person isn't a companion 00:40:49.084 --> 00:40:53.924 if a TV screen or a computer screen separates us. 00:40:53.924 --> 00:40:55.700 That's not true. NOTE Paragraph 00:40:55.700 --> 00:40:58.857 What is a companion? 00:40:58.857 --> 00:41:00.385 This has to do with the idea 00:41:00.385 --> 00:41:02.655 of people we surround ourselves with. 00:41:02.655 --> 00:41:07.555 People who we allow to influence us. 00:41:07.555 --> 00:41:08.827 You may not have a person 00:41:08.827 --> 00:41:10.871 come into your house, 00:41:10.871 --> 00:41:13.411 but you may expose yourself 00:41:13.411 --> 00:41:15.653 on the Internet to people who end up 00:41:15.653 --> 00:41:17.372 influencing you; 00:41:17.372 --> 00:41:19.175 people that end up saying things; 00:41:19.175 --> 00:41:21.501 people that end up injecting 00:41:21.501 --> 00:41:23.467 a worldview into your mind; 00:41:23.467 --> 00:41:27.526 people that end up being a worldly example; 00:41:27.526 --> 00:41:29.936 people that do things 00:41:29.936 --> 00:41:34.281 (incomplete thought). 00:41:34.281 --> 00:41:37.996 Listen, there was a reason why 00:41:37.996 --> 00:41:39.569 way before movies, 00:41:39.569 --> 00:41:42.657 way before TV, way before Internet, 00:41:42.657 --> 00:41:45.430 you put people out of the church. 00:41:45.430 --> 00:41:48.719 Anybody remember what one of those reasons was? 00:41:48.719 --> 00:41:51.118 A little leaven leavens the whole lump? 00:41:51.118 --> 00:41:53.573 It's amazing how now 00:41:53.573 --> 00:41:58.816 with all of our electronic apparatuses, 00:41:58.816 --> 00:42:01.347 we allow people to influence us 00:42:01.347 --> 00:42:03.267 that church discipline was meant 00:42:03.267 --> 00:42:05.235 to eradicate from our lives, 00:42:05.235 --> 00:42:08.928 or right decisions about companionship 00:42:08.928 --> 00:42:14.556 were meant to eradicate from our lives. 00:42:14.556 --> 00:42:16.528 You start asking yourself: 00:42:16.528 --> 00:42:19.703 do you think you can sit in front of a movie 00:42:19.703 --> 00:42:26.465 with sex, a horror movie, 00:42:26.465 --> 00:42:32.687 with graphic language, God defamed, 00:42:32.687 --> 00:42:35.366 absolutely un-Christian values, 00:42:35.366 --> 00:42:38.233 worldly perspectives, 00:42:38.233 --> 00:42:41.884 and that you're going to be uninfluenced? 00:42:41.884 --> 00:42:44.992 Is that the way you learn Christ? 00:42:44.992 --> 00:42:48.901 Now, here's what I learn from Christ, NOTE Paragraph 00:42:48.901 --> 00:42:51.906 that if I have the opportunity 00:42:51.906 --> 00:42:55.355 to find people like that 00:42:55.355 --> 00:42:58.135 and to see to be the one that's the aggressor; 00:42:58.135 --> 00:43:00.488 to seek to be the one on the offensive; 00:43:00.488 --> 00:43:04.765 to seek to be the one who goes to the sick 00:43:04.765 --> 00:43:08.611 bringing the message of the doctor, 00:43:08.611 --> 00:43:10.835 then that's good. 00:43:10.835 --> 00:43:15.023 Eating with publicans and sinners, 00:43:15.023 --> 00:43:19.246 tax collectors - that's good; 00:43:19.246 --> 00:43:22.179 when we're the one setting the agenda; 00:43:22.179 --> 00:43:24.712 when we're going in to bring light. 00:43:24.712 --> 00:43:26.695 But you know the problem is 00:43:26.695 --> 00:43:31.439 TV's, movie screens, Internet - 00:43:31.439 --> 00:43:34.013 Internet I guess you have some ability 00:43:34.013 --> 00:43:35.673 to communicate back and forth, 00:43:35.673 --> 00:43:38.112 but typically you don't have that. 00:43:38.112 --> 00:43:40.405 You don't go to the movie to positively 00:43:40.405 --> 00:43:44.147 influence the actors. 00:43:44.147 --> 00:43:51.480 (Incomplete thought). 00:43:51.480 --> 00:43:53.321 Many of you know, 00:43:53.321 --> 00:43:55.756 every Sunday afternoon, I'm watching - 00:43:55.756 --> 00:43:58.303 I've got all ten "Dispatches from the Front" in here, 00:43:58.303 --> 00:43:59.686 and I just go through them. 00:43:59.686 --> 00:44:06.823 It keeps my missionary juices flowing. 00:44:06.823 --> 00:44:09.457 Very often, Friday nights, 00:44:09.457 --> 00:44:12.901 I love to watch the Q&A times. 00:44:12.901 --> 00:44:18.267 Ligonier, oftentimes Sproul, MacArthur, 00:44:18.267 --> 00:44:22.341 different men. 00:44:22.341 --> 00:44:24.020 There's things that can be 00:44:24.020 --> 00:44:26.216 tremendously profitable. 00:44:26.216 --> 00:44:27.774 There can be things that can be 00:44:27.774 --> 00:44:28.993 tremendously profitable 00:44:28.993 --> 00:44:31.364 to bring the family together. 00:44:31.364 --> 00:44:33.896 You can watch certain documentaries on nature 00:44:33.896 --> 00:44:36.221 and you can see God's handiwork 00:44:36.221 --> 00:44:40.000 and get a perspective on some things in this world 00:44:40.000 --> 00:44:41.568 that just blow your mind 00:44:41.568 --> 00:44:44.518 and cause you to think bigger views of God. 00:44:44.518 --> 00:44:47.558 But you see, you're evaluating 00:44:47.558 --> 00:44:49.481 everything from that perspective. 00:44:49.481 --> 00:44:51.844 Is this going to cause me to worship God? 00:44:51.844 --> 00:44:53.004 To see God as bigger? 00:44:53.004 --> 00:44:55.102 Is this going to cause me to walk more holy? 00:44:55.102 --> 00:44:57.299 Is this going to cause me to learn of Christ? 00:44:57.299 --> 00:44:59.919 Is this going to somehow help me in my run? 00:44:59.919 --> 00:45:08.666 Or is this going to impact my joy in the Holy Spirit? NOTE Paragraph 00:45:08.666 --> 00:45:15.033 This idea, brethren, what's permissible? 00:45:15.033 --> 00:45:16.897 Oh, if you've been saved 00:45:16.897 --> 00:45:19.810 by the blood of Christ, 00:45:19.810 --> 00:45:21.465 you can't get away from it. 00:45:21.465 --> 00:45:23.770 It's like every book in our Bible 00:45:23.770 --> 00:45:28.427 just calls us to recognize, 00:45:28.427 --> 00:45:31.025 we ought to be living on another plane. 00:45:31.025 --> 00:45:32.687 And we've got the power to live 00:45:32.687 --> 00:45:34.443 on that higher plane. 00:45:34.443 --> 00:45:36.675 This idea of just walking around 00:45:36.675 --> 00:45:40.976 all the time being guided by 00:45:40.976 --> 00:45:43.294 a list of rules. 00:45:43.294 --> 00:45:44.727 You don't need a list of rules 00:45:44.727 --> 00:45:46.043 for the refrigerator. 00:45:46.043 --> 00:45:48.192 No more than if you get married, 00:45:48.192 --> 00:45:49.664 you need a list of rules 00:45:49.664 --> 00:45:51.282 how to treat your wife. 00:45:51.282 --> 00:45:52.651 "Don't beat your wife. 00:45:52.651 --> 00:45:53.701 Kiss wife in morning. 00:45:53.701 --> 00:45:57.640 Say goodbye when you leave." 00:45:57.640 --> 00:46:02.124 Your wife would be appalled at that. 00:46:02.124 --> 00:46:06.365 Listen, don't try to construct God differently. 00:46:06.365 --> 00:46:09.058 God created relationships between man and woman - 00:46:09.058 --> 00:46:12.257 between us as a reflection 00:46:12.257 --> 00:46:14.921 of a greater relationship. 00:46:14.921 --> 00:46:16.028 He wants our heart. 00:46:16.028 --> 00:46:17.204 He wants our passions. 00:46:17.204 --> 00:46:21.067 He wants us to do things from love. 00:46:21.067 --> 00:46:23.977 He wants us to be spontaneous. 00:46:23.977 --> 00:46:26.413 It doesn't mean there isn't a place for thinking. 00:46:26.413 --> 00:46:29.388 It doesn't mean there isn't a place for studying Scripture. 00:46:29.388 --> 00:46:31.256 It doesn't mean there isn't a place 00:46:31.256 --> 00:46:32.925 to let the light of Scripture shine 00:46:32.925 --> 00:46:34.426 and to be moved and motivated 00:46:34.426 --> 00:46:36.423 by the Spirit of God through it. 00:46:36.423 --> 00:46:38.756 But brethren, living a life 00:46:38.756 --> 00:46:40.457 where righteousness becomes 00:46:40.457 --> 00:46:42.291 the spontaneous reaction 00:46:42.291 --> 00:46:43.512 and imitating Christ 00:46:43.512 --> 00:46:45.239 and walking because we love 00:46:45.239 --> 00:46:46.416 and we delight in Him. 00:46:46.416 --> 00:46:49.424 We appreciate our friendship, 00:46:49.424 --> 00:46:51.262 our relationship with Him. 00:46:51.262 --> 00:46:53.240 You read that - 1 John - 00:46:53.240 --> 00:46:54.646 we're walking in the light 00:46:54.646 --> 00:46:57.302 and we have fellowship. 00:46:57.302 --> 00:46:59.405 When you get to the place where you 00:46:59.405 --> 00:47:02.206 appreciate fellowship and you want to fast 00:47:02.206 --> 00:47:04.405 not because there's a law; 00:47:04.405 --> 00:47:07.313 not because Jesus said, 00:47:07.313 --> 00:47:09.553 "When you fast..." that means it's a law. 00:47:09.553 --> 00:47:11.800 Got to do the law. 00:47:11.800 --> 00:47:15.000 When the church fasts quarterly, got to do it. 00:47:15.000 --> 00:47:17.158 No, it's when you look and you say, 00:47:17.158 --> 00:47:20.738 "Lord, I just want to clear all the food out, 00:47:20.738 --> 00:47:22.688 because I need You, Lord. 00:47:22.688 --> 00:47:23.864 I need You. 00:47:23.864 --> 00:47:25.793 I feel like there is a dryness. 00:47:25.793 --> 00:47:28.459 I feel like a shadow has come between us. 00:47:28.459 --> 00:47:30.706 Lord, I want to quicken... 00:47:30.706 --> 00:47:34.837 Lord, I want You to draw near." 00:47:34.837 --> 00:47:35.848 Brethren, you know, 00:47:35.848 --> 00:47:38.149 that is what pleases the Lord. 00:47:38.149 --> 00:47:39.405 When it's all mechanical, 00:47:39.405 --> 00:47:40.774 when it's all rule keeping, 00:47:40.774 --> 00:47:44.017 that is not pleasing to Him. 00:47:44.017 --> 00:47:48.334 That is ugly religion. 00:47:48.334 --> 00:47:51.070 That is legalism. 00:47:51.070 --> 00:47:54.053 Legalists are always concerned 00:47:54.053 --> 00:47:57.119 with the rules - not with God; 00:47:57.119 --> 00:47:58.801 not with loving their fellow man. 00:47:58.801 --> 00:48:01.015 They're concerned with the rules. 00:48:01.015 --> 00:48:02.953 Show me the rule to keep. 00:48:02.953 --> 00:48:09.204 Rule keeping, rule keeping, rule keeping. NOTE Paragraph 00:48:09.204 --> 00:48:13.565 Brethren, I know that there are laws 00:48:13.565 --> 00:48:15.385 in Scripture. 00:48:15.385 --> 00:48:16.968 I know that. 00:48:16.968 --> 00:48:18.735 But you know as well as I do, 00:48:18.735 --> 00:48:21.869 if you just let your mind go, 00:48:21.869 --> 00:48:23.396 you know - 00:48:23.396 --> 00:48:24.907 Jesus came along and He said, 00:48:24.907 --> 00:48:26.350 look, I know you had a law 00:48:26.350 --> 00:48:29.804 that said not to commit adultery. 00:48:29.804 --> 00:48:34.884 But look, it's way beyond that. 00:48:34.884 --> 00:48:37.525 It's way beyond that. It's learning of Jesus. NOTE Paragraph 00:48:37.525 --> 00:48:39.483 How do you learn Jesus? 00:48:39.483 --> 00:48:42.018 Oh, He was pure. 00:48:42.018 --> 00:48:45.793 He wasn't rude to women. 00:48:45.793 --> 00:48:48.487 He was kind to them. 00:48:48.487 --> 00:48:51.739 He treated them with the utmost of respect. 00:48:51.739 --> 00:48:54.265 He revealed Himself to Mary first 00:48:54.265 --> 00:48:56.537 when He was risen. 00:48:56.537 --> 00:48:59.539 There He was - she thought He was the gardener. 00:48:59.539 --> 00:49:02.021 They were gathered around the cross. 00:49:02.021 --> 00:49:04.244 He took care of His mother. 00:49:04.244 --> 00:49:08.084 "John, behold your mother." 00:49:08.084 --> 00:49:11.367 You just watch the way He dealt with women. 00:49:11.367 --> 00:49:13.981 It's not a rule. 00:49:13.981 --> 00:49:16.013 It's not constantly living a rule. 00:49:16.013 --> 00:49:19.047 Oh, if I look at this, 00:49:19.047 --> 00:49:23.311 and I'm living in fear of the penalty. 00:49:23.311 --> 00:49:26.253 See, slaves live in fear of the penalty 00:49:26.253 --> 00:49:27.300 all the time. 00:49:27.300 --> 00:49:29.407 It's purity. 00:49:29.407 --> 00:49:33.304 Fleeing youthful lusts. 00:49:33.304 --> 00:49:35.354 It's wanting to stay pure. 00:49:35.354 --> 00:49:37.900 It's wanting to be holy. 00:49:37.900 --> 00:49:39.511 It's not wanting these things 00:49:39.511 --> 00:49:40.979 to impact my life, 00:49:40.979 --> 00:49:45.141 because I don't want to lose sight 00:49:45.141 --> 00:49:46.246 of God's face. 00:49:46.246 --> 00:49:50.319 I don't want to lose power. 00:49:50.319 --> 00:49:53.496 There is a power to do good. 00:49:53.496 --> 00:49:55.385 There's an enabling. 00:49:55.385 --> 00:49:57.212 The Spirit of God quickens us. 00:49:57.212 --> 00:49:58.940 The Spirit of God gives gifts. 00:49:58.940 --> 00:50:00.978 The Spirit of God gives grace. 00:50:00.978 --> 00:50:04.061 The Spirit of God empowers us. 00:50:04.061 --> 00:50:05.304 I don't want to lose that. NOTE Paragraph 00:50:05.304 --> 00:50:07.616 Quenching the Spirit. 00:50:07.616 --> 00:50:09.939 You've got grieving the Spirit - 00:50:09.939 --> 00:50:12.042 that's the idea of a person that's grieved. 00:50:12.042 --> 00:50:13.628 That's more of the relationship. 00:50:13.628 --> 00:50:16.332 Quenching is more of the power, 00:50:16.332 --> 00:50:20.661 the fire, the light. 00:50:20.661 --> 00:50:24.992 I don't want that. 00:50:24.992 --> 00:50:32.419 And brethren, you know, 00:50:32.419 --> 00:50:34.431 when we fail, when we fall, 00:50:34.431 --> 00:50:35.600 when we do things, 00:50:35.600 --> 00:50:38.322 He's faithful and just to forgive us. 00:50:38.322 --> 00:50:39.585 Scripture says so. 00:50:39.585 --> 00:50:41.654 And there's a place to run back to Him 00:50:41.654 --> 00:50:43.047 and not to hesitate. 00:50:43.047 --> 00:50:51.921 (Incomplete thought). 00:50:51.921 --> 00:50:54.871 Brethren, we need to live 00:50:54.871 --> 00:50:57.684 in the reality of that. 00:50:57.684 --> 00:50:59.942 That we're justified 00:50:59.942 --> 00:51:01.975 and that we have free access to Him 00:51:01.975 --> 00:51:02.805 all the time. 00:51:02.805 --> 00:51:04.694 And we can run back. 00:51:04.694 --> 00:51:09.466 But we know that grievance 00:51:09.466 --> 00:51:13.014 in our own heart of having offended Him, 00:51:13.014 --> 00:51:18.484 losing sight of Him. 00:51:18.484 --> 00:51:20.205 You now what Peter went through 00:51:20.205 --> 00:51:24.130 after denying the Lord. 00:51:24.130 --> 00:51:26.696 And seasons, if we quench the Spirit, 00:51:26.696 --> 00:51:28.745 we can't find Him. NOTE Paragraph 00:51:28.745 --> 00:51:30.657 You remember how it was with Christian 00:51:30.657 --> 00:51:33.702 when he lost his scroll? 00:51:33.702 --> 00:51:35.282 He's just cursing himself. 00:51:35.282 --> 00:51:38.838 Ugh! I had to walk the same ground three times 00:51:38.838 --> 00:51:40.851 that I only needed to walk once. 00:51:40.851 --> 00:51:42.877 Why? Because of his foolishness. 00:51:42.877 --> 00:51:45.169 He went to sleep there 00:51:45.169 --> 00:51:47.775 at the top of the hill of difficulty 00:51:47.775 --> 00:51:49.710 at the stile that was made 00:51:49.710 --> 00:51:52.768 for the rest of the weary pilgrim. 00:51:52.768 --> 00:51:57.282 But he fell asleep there. 00:51:57.282 --> 00:52:00.584 He had to walk the same ground three times. 00:52:00.584 --> 00:52:04.544 See, it's living with a bigger picture. 00:52:04.544 --> 00:52:05.929 I don't want to keep walking 00:52:05.929 --> 00:52:07.693 the same ground over and over. 00:52:07.693 --> 00:52:09.283 I don't want to fall backwards. 00:52:09.283 --> 00:52:10.738 I don't want to lose ground. 00:52:10.738 --> 00:52:12.300 I don't want to lose His smile. 00:52:12.300 --> 00:52:13.708 I don't want to lose His fellowship. 00:52:13.708 --> 00:52:15.217 I don't to lose a sense of His love. 00:52:15.217 --> 00:52:17.007 I don't want to lose any of His power. 00:52:17.007 --> 00:52:18.307 I don't want that. 00:52:18.307 --> 00:52:19.797 I want righteousness. 00:52:19.797 --> 00:52:21.273 I want it to be overflowing. 00:52:21.273 --> 00:52:24.543 I want to be moving upward and upward and upward. 00:52:24.543 --> 00:52:25.744 I want to see Him more. 00:52:25.744 --> 00:52:27.442 Oh, that I might know Him. 00:52:27.442 --> 00:52:28.653 Driven like that. 00:52:28.653 --> 00:52:33.118 As I just mentioned on Sunday, 00:52:33.118 --> 00:52:34.293 living like the psalmist 00:52:34.293 --> 00:52:36.406 with a heart that pants after God 00:52:36.406 --> 00:52:38.454 like the deer is panting after the water. 00:52:38.454 --> 00:52:42.223 You see, when we live like that, 00:52:42.223 --> 00:52:44.111 if you look up, 00:52:44.111 --> 00:52:46.724 eyeball to eyeball with God, 00:52:46.724 --> 00:52:47.897 I just have to believe, 00:52:47.897 --> 00:52:51.332 people who can listen to foul, filthy music 00:52:51.332 --> 00:52:55.188 and watch dirtbag movies, 00:52:55.188 --> 00:52:58.323 are they on their knees before they go? 00:52:58.323 --> 00:52:59.837 Are they asking the Lord, 00:52:59.837 --> 00:53:02.500 "Help and guide me to do the most holy things today?" 00:53:02.500 --> 00:53:04.418 "Help me to be like Evangeline Booth." 00:53:04.418 --> 00:53:06.179 "Help me to look for opportunities 00:53:06.179 --> 00:53:07.770 where I can love somebody; 00:53:07.770 --> 00:53:09.141 where I can plant a kiss." 00:53:09.141 --> 00:53:13.539 Oh, to have the grace to know 00:53:13.539 --> 00:53:15.707 when to kiss a woman on the cheek 00:53:15.707 --> 00:53:17.754 and when it's inappropriate. 00:53:17.754 --> 00:53:19.572 And what's the kindest thing to do? 00:53:19.572 --> 00:53:21.334 And to have the right words to speak? 00:53:21.334 --> 00:53:25.945 My wife said when we got in a discussion 00:53:25.945 --> 00:53:28.916 about this, she said, you know what? 00:53:28.916 --> 00:53:31.260 She said, I think that there are 00:53:31.260 --> 00:53:34.935 just some of God's people 00:53:34.935 --> 00:53:38.032 who don't know what it's like 00:53:38.032 --> 00:53:40.463 to actually have holiness in their life 00:53:40.463 --> 00:53:42.275 and live in the power of that. 00:53:42.275 --> 00:53:44.840 I'm probably not saying it exactly how she said it. 00:53:44.840 --> 00:53:47.382 But she said it something like that. 00:53:47.382 --> 00:53:51.869 And I think there's a reality there. 00:53:51.869 --> 00:53:53.256 I think we have some - 00:53:53.256 --> 00:53:55.346 whether they're just professing Christians 00:53:55.346 --> 00:53:58.841 or whether they're just immature ones, 00:53:58.841 --> 00:54:02.317 they just don't know what it is 00:54:02.317 --> 00:54:08.666 to really experience the power of God 00:54:08.666 --> 00:54:12.276 that comes with a truly holy life - 00:54:12.276 --> 00:54:16.125 a consistently holy life. 00:54:16.125 --> 00:54:17.765 It's like once you've tasted 00:54:17.765 --> 00:54:20.211 certain things in the Christian life, 00:54:20.211 --> 00:54:24.981 once you've tasted that the Lord is good, 00:54:24.981 --> 00:54:27.078 you don't want to go back. 00:54:27.078 --> 00:54:28.326 You don't want to go back. 00:54:28.326 --> 00:54:30.036 You don't only not want to go back 00:54:30.036 --> 00:54:32.074 to how it was when you were lost, 00:54:32.074 --> 00:54:35.060 you don't want to go back to how it was 00:54:35.060 --> 00:54:39.053 when you were a less mature Christian. 00:54:39.053 --> 00:54:49.032 You want more. 00:54:49.032 --> 00:54:53.131 Comments?