-
Perhaps you've caught a little bit of this
-
if you've been with us
in our Sunday service
-
the last two Sundays.
-
You might have picked
up a little bit of this.
-
It's kind of come across in being alive,
-
being raised up with Christ.
-
And we're really going
to get into this week
-
just being seated in the
heavenly places with Christ -
-
this whole perspective on
living the Christian's life.
-
And as I made mention,
-
maybe some of you are far more aware
-
than I am. You probably are.
-
Any of you that have Facebook,
-
I don't have a Facebook account
-
except whatever you see there
-
was created by James.
-
I don't have anything to do with it.
-
I never look at it.
-
I don't know what's on it.
-
If material gets added,
it's not me doing it.
-
It's somebody else.
-
But I know that our elders
-
recently have become aware
-
just of a situation
-
of professing Christians watching a movie
-
that, in my estimation,
-
is absolutely inappropriate
-
for a professing Christian.
-
And some of you may be aware
-
of what's being called the New Calvinism
-
or this Neo-Calvinism
-
or this "Young, Restless,
and Reformed" bunch.
-
I don't know how much you folks here -
-
some of you young people -
-
I don't know how much you
even know about that movement;
-
how much you actually
identify with that movement,
-
but one of the things that I saw -
-
it was months ago, but I saw
-
where John Piper was addressing
-
this New Calvinism.
-
And one of the things
that he feared about it
-
was that it is breeding antinomianism -
-
just a license for lawlessness;
-
just a license for sin.
-
This really seems to be abounding.
-
These guys like to talk election.
-
They like to talk predestination
-
and talk all about the different
-
high and lofty doctrines of Calvinism,
-
but they seem to be really lacking
-
when it comes to holiness.
-
And anyways, like I say,
-
our elders became aware of
-
some professing Christians.
-
And there was comment going back and forth
-
on the Internet about this
-
and about the appropriateness.
-
Well, let me just tell you.
-
I know from my wife used to bring up
-
this website called pluggedin.com,
-
where you can basically disect any movie
-
as far as the content, explicit content,
-
language, sex, violence,
-
occultic things, anything like that.
-
The movie that I have in mind here,
-
pluggedin.com says it has 50 F-words,
-
40 S-words,
-
God's name is misused repeatedly,
-
assorted other indecent language,
-
sex, violence, occult, hypnotists.
-
Pluggedin.com sizes up this movie
-
by saying it is bloody and profane.
-
And in the past,
-
we've actually had situations
-
where some of the
communication back and forth
-
has been about music.
-
People listening to music
-
that's got profanity,
-
or these worldly rap guys.
-
And this kind of discussion
seems to come up
-
where whether it's music,
-
whether it's something
people are watching on TV,
-
whether it's something people are
being exposed to on the Internet,
-
or movies people are going to,
-
and one of the things
-
that came out in this discussion
-
that I heard firsthand,
-
is "show me in the Bible
-
where it says I can't do that."
-
Okay, we look at that
and we say as Christians,
-
well, shouldn't our life
be guided by Scripture?
-
Absolutely.
-
I want everybody to totally understand.
-
I, in no way, am downplaying
-
the importance of Scripture
-
in the life of a Christian.
-
Not at all.
-
In fact, I want to emphasize
-
the necessity of Scripture to point out
-
what's really important
in the Christian life.
-
When somebody comes along and says -
-
you now, you want to talk to them
-
about some activity in their life.
-
(Brother, you want to jump over here?)
-
But you know, we can talk to people
-
about different things in their life
-
that don't seem appropriate;
-
seem out of place;
-
seem unfitting;
-
seem worldly;
-
seem indecent; seem profane.
-
And people want to say,
-
"Show me in the Bible where it says that."
-
It's like, "Show me the rules."
-
"Show me the law."
-
That kind of living
of the Christian life -
-
I want to attack that.
-
I want to deal with that.
I want to address that.
-
Because to live your life that way
-
is really to miss it.
-
That's not living the Christian life
-
according to New Testament principles.
-
It's something else.
-
In fact, it's a manifestation of legalism.
-
It's a manifestation of people
-
who want a list of rules,
-
and show me the rule that says
-
I can do that or can't do that.
-
It's basically, always
asking the question,
-
"What's permissible?"
-
What's permissible?
-
How close to the line can I live
-
and still be a Christian?
-
How much of the world can I bring in?
-
What's wrong with that?
-
What's wrong with drinking?
-
What's wrong with - the
thing is today - marijuana?
-
Or show me in the
Bible where it says that.
-
Show me in the Bible where it
says I'm supposed to evangelize.
-
Show me the rule.
-
Brethren, living your life that way
-
is a manifestation of nothing less
-
than legalism.
-
It's simply wanting to be
under a code of laws,
-
a code of ethics,
-
a list of rules,
-
and you need your
whole life guided by that.
-
Show me the rule.
-
There's just something about that.
-
When I hear that kind of language,
-
sometimes I'm amazed.
-
And I'm not the only one.
-
Listen to this.
-
Now, I know this quote isn't exactly
-
along the line of what
I'm talking about right now,
-
but it's close.
-
It's got some parallels.
-
Listen to this. This is John Piper
-
speaking actually about a quote
-
that he got from J.I. Packer.
-
Just hang with me here -
-
there's a connection. You'll see it.
-
Piper says this, "In the church,
-
we've developed all kinds
-
of Christ-coated remedies
-
that are shallow and short-lived.
-
We are not by and large
the deeply grounded saints
-
that some of our forefathers were.
-
J.I. Packer compares
the old English Puritans
-
who lived and suffered from 1550 to 1700
-
with the Redwoods of California.
-
They were giants whose roots
-
were incredibly deep in the Bible,
-
and whose branches reached to the heavens,
-
and whose trunks were
so strong and durable
-
they could endure forest fires
-
that scar them but don't kill them.
-
Packer says affluence seems
-
for the past generation to be making
-
dwarfs and deadheads of us all."
-
You see, that's what I don't want.
-
I don't want a room full
of dwarfs and deadheads.
-
Brethren, if regeneration is real
-
and it's the work of Almighty God
-
and He has actually taken people
-
and made new creations out of them,
-
and if indeed like we're
going to see on Sunday
-
we're seated in
heavenly places with Christ -
-
if that is true of us,
-
why are there not more Redwoods today?
-
Why deadheads?
-
Anyway...
-
"We do not have the patience
-
to sink the roots of hospitality
-
and brotherly kindness
-
and authentic love in the deep rock
-
of Romans 6-8."
-
Piper was preaching through those chapters
-
at the time that he said this.
-
"We want to jump straight
-
from the justification
-
to the practical
application of chapter 12.
-
Just give us a list."
-
The reason he goes to 12 -
-
the reason he's talking 5 and 12,
-
is because 5 deals
with justification by faith.
-
We have peace through God -
if you think about 5:1.
-
Our sins are forgiven
-
based on the merits
of what Jesus Christ did.
-
Just tell me about my redemption.
-
Tell me about my forgiveness.
-
And then take me to the list of rules.
-
Which, there are some lists of things
-
if you remember, if you think,
-
when you get 10 or 12 verses
-
into Romans 12,
-
you begin to get a list of various things
-
that come at us.
-
And he's saying that's how
most people want to live.
-
Tell me I'm forgiven.
-
Now give me the list of things.
-
So I can basically live my life that way.
-
Do this. Don't do that.
-
And just live our lives.
-
But see, the thing that Piper's hitting at
-
is that's what makes
for shallow Christians.
-
Tell me my sins are forgiven.
Give me the list of things to do.
-
That's not how we live the Christian life.
-
"Just give us a list.
-
Tell us what to do.
-
But the Puritans were different.
-
They looked at the book of Romans
-
and saw that life is built another way -
-
being a sage, being a redwood,
-
being unshakeable in storm
-
and useful in times of
indescribable suffering -
-
that does not come quickly or easily.
-
Romans is not two chapters long.
-
It's 16 chapters long.
-
It does not skip from chapter 5 to 12.
-
It leads us deep down into the roots
-
of godliness, so that when we come up,
-
we're not people with lists."
-
You see, that's the thing.
-
That's what's so amazing to me
-
is when people say,
-
"Show me in the Bible
-
where I shouldn't do that."
-
You see, that's where you
want to say to them,
-
"have you never read Romans 6-8?
-
Have you never plunged down in the depths
-
of 'sin no longer has dominion'?"
-
Eternal life is at the end of:
-
I've died to sin. I'm a slave to God.
-
I'm now bearing this fruit
-
unto sanctification.
-
The end of all of this is eternal life.
-
I'm not married to the law anymore.
-
I'm married to Christ and there's freedom.
-
Not freedom as a license to sin.
-
A freedom to serve God.
-
It's going through the depths
-
of that kind of teaching
-
before you ever get to any sort of list.
-
It says, "It leads us down deep
-
into the roots of godliness,
-
so that when we come up,
-
we're not people with lists,
-
but people with unshakeable life
-
and strength and holiness
-
and wisdom and love."
-
Now, listen to another Piper quote.
-
This is Piper - I believe it's when
-
he did his biographical sketch
-
of C.S. Lewis.
-
And he was actually talking about
-
as a young Christian,
-
trying to sort things out,
-
and he got exposure to C.S. Lewis.
-
And look, there's much that Lewis
-
says, does, did, believed -
-
I would not stand by it at all.
-
But here's what Piper said.
-
"Somehow there had been wakened in me
-
a passion for the essence
-
and the main point of life.
-
The ethical question whether something
-
is permissible..."
-
See, that's what he was dealing with.
-
As a young Christian, this idea
-
of asking that question all the time,
-
just looking at something and saying,
-
"is it permissible?"
-
"...faded in relationship to the question:
-
what is the main thing?
The essential thing?
-
The thought of building a life
-
around minimal morality
-
or minimal significance -
-
a life defined by the question:
-
what is permissible? -
-
felt almost disgusting to me.
-
I didn't want a minimal life.
-
I didn't want to live on
the outskirts of reality.
-
I wanted to understand
the main thing about life
-
and pursue it."
-
Now, I know I've been quoting Piper.
-
We're going to get to Scripture now.
-
But brethren, if you think about it.
-
Just think about the arguments
-
of the epistles,
-
or the way Jesus, when He had opportunity
-
to pull His disciples aside -
-
and He began teaching them.
-
Where in the world do you ever find
-
just a list of ethics?
-
A list of morality?
-
Christianity in the New Testament
-
is not just a list of rules.
-
"Show me in the Bible
where it says I can't do that."
-
Always looking for what's permissible.
-
That's dismal, horrible kind of religion.
-
Here's what Scripture
says as we're thinking
-
about the book of Romans.
-
You know what's interesting?
-
When you get to Romans 14 -
-
and what do we all know Romans 14 for?
-
What jumps out at you as being
-
one of the key
characteristics of Romans 14?
-
Romans 14 is where it talks to us
-
about having differences, right?
-
Some eat. Some don't eat.
-
Some observe the day.
-
Some don't observe the day.
-
Well, isn't that interesting?
-
Let's just think right there.
-
Is that a list of rules?
-
Actually, that's Paul telling people:
-
you know what?
-
That guy over there can do it.
-
That guy over there can't do it.
-
She can eat. She doesn't eat.
-
No list of rules.
-
There's much bigger things
-
than a list of rules.
-
Isn't that right?
-
And see, when he gets done with it,
-
you know what he says?
-
This is what? 14:17?
-
He says the kingdom of God
-
is not all about eating and drinking.
-
What's that?
-
That's rules.
-
It's not about a list of rules
-
as to whether I can drink alcohol or not.
-
That's not how you live your life.
-
It's not simply:
-
is it permissible for a
Christian to drink wine?
-
After all, Jesus Christ - look what He did
-
over there at the wedding.
-
That's not how you live.
-
Yes, we take those things
into consideration.
-
We look at them, but as
we live out our life,
-
the question we're not always asking
-
is: is it permissible?
-
Can I eat? Can I not eat?
-
Yes, there are verses that say
-
that if you forbid people to eat,
-
it's demonic doctrine.
-
There are those who come along and say
-
you can't eat, you can't marry.
-
We know. There's demon doctrine out there.
-
We need to be able to
distinguish between them.
-
But brethren, can't you hear Paul here?
-
He's saying to the Romans
-
there's bigger issues
-
than rules around eating and drinking.
-
That's not the issue.
-
The kingdom of God is about righteousness.
-
What else?
-
It's about peace.
-
It's about joy in the Holy Spirit.
-
You see, joy in the Holy Spirit.
-
I just had a meeting not too long before
-
the Bible study tonight.
-
And a sister was telling me about
-
a season in her life
-
where she lacked assurance.
-
And she told me right off,
-
she'd grieved the Spirit. She knew it.
-
Joy in the Holy Spirit.
-
See, those are the kind of
questions to be asking.
-
Is this going to bring any shadow
-
between me and the Lord?
-
Because I don't want that.
-
See, it's not, "is it permissible?"
-
I feel like Piper -
-
that kind of thinking is disgusting
-
for a Christian to even
think on that level -
-
or professing Christian.
-
In the end, what we're going to find
-
is many people who talk that way -
-
the reason they talk that way
-
is because they're under the law.
-
And that's how people under the law think.
-
That's how slaves think.
-
(incomplete thought)
-
See, the slave doesn't enjoy
-
what the master tells him to do.
-
But he's always aware of the law,
-
of the rules.
-
Because if he doesn't do the rule,
-
what's going to happen?
-
He's going to get punished.
-
He's going to get whipped.
-
He's going to get beat.
-
He's going to get his leg chopped off.
-
You do what the master says
-
or there's consequences.
-
See, you're always mindful of the rules.
-
The rules, the rules, the rules.
-
That is to be under the law.
-
(incomplete thought)
-
The legalist is absorbed with rules
-
rather than with God;
-
rather than with his fellow man
-
in true holiness.
-
Life is viewed as primarily what I do.
-
It's breaking all my actions down.
-
The do's, the don't's,
-
the particular actions all in terms of:
-
is it permissible?
-
Is it not?
-
Versus: the kingdom of God
-
is about righteousness.
-
It's about what pleases the King.
-
See, righteousness -
-
that's the character of the King,
-
the Kingdom of God.
-
That's the character of the King Himself.
-
What is the character of God?
-
How can I be like Him?
-
What does Peter say?
-
Does Peter not call us to be holy?
-
Why?
-
Be ye holy. Why?
-
What's the argument?
-
Come on, folks.
-
James: They're whispering back here.
-
Tim: Let's be aggressive.
-
What was it?
-
Yeah, you shall be holy, for I am holy.
-
Listen to Ephesians 4.
-
Ephesians 4:17 and following.
-
We're going to come
to this in our studies,
-
but you know what?
-
Paul comes along and he says
-
you shouldn't walk
like Gentiles any longer.
-
You shouldn't act like them.
-
You shouldn't live your lives that way,
-
walk like the Gentiles do
-
in the futility of their mind.
-
He basically breaks down how they live.
-
They're alienated from the life of God.
-
They're living in all this sensuality.
-
What's the reason?
-
Because Jesus Christ gave you a list
-
of do's and don't's?
-
You know what he says?
-
That is not the way you learned Christ,
-
assuming that you have learned Him.
-
Isn't that interesting?
He tacks that on the end.
-
You see, that's the issue.
-
How did you learn Christ?
-
Let me ask you this -
-
I would just ask you all this:
-
When you do something with your life,
-
how did you learn Christ?
-
I mean, that's the kind of question
-
that needs to be going through your mind.
-
You know what I learn about Him?
-
I learn when I get to the book of Acts,
-
He came and He went about doing good.
-
You know what's amazing to me?
-
Well, you think about this.
-
You all now what's happening out there
-
in social media and what
the discussions are about
-
far more than I do.
-
Let me ask you a question.
-
The people who it seems like
-
are legalists -
-
show them a rule.
-
That's how they talk all the time.
-
Show me a rule for that.
-
Show me a rule for that.
-
Is that who you want
for a husband or wife?
-
"I want you to hug me."
"Show me a rule for that!"
-
Look, if you start to even contemplate
-
that on that level -
-
a wife says, "I want my
husband to hold me,"
-
and the husband says,
"show me a rule for that."
-
You don't want a husband like that.
-
Can you see how God would be
-
absolutely disgusted
-
with that kind of life?
-
Listen, there is a huge difference
-
between morality and holiness.
-
This idea of just
basically living your life
-
according to some moral code:
-
"Show me where it says that."
-
"Show me where I have to do that."
-
Like this argument against evangelism.
-
People who say,
-
"Show me in the Bible..."
-
Back in William Carey's day,
-
that was a big thing.
-
They wanted to downplay
the Great Commission
-
as though it was only for the apostles.
-
Carey came along and said -
-
he used numerous arguments,
-
but his main one being,
-
look, the promise is that
Christ will be with us
-
to the end of the age.
-
Doesn't that mean that our responsibility
-
to go to all of the nations
-
is a responsibility that lasts
-
as long as the promise does?
-
Certainly so.
-
But look, let me just ask this.
-
It's the old: if you have
the cure for cancer,
-
and the world all around
you is dying of cancer...
-
"Show me a rule where it
says I have to go share
-
the remedy with everybody else."
-
See, that's what the legalist does.
-
Show me the law.
-
Show me the rule.
-
I don't care if the rest
of the world goes to hell.
-
You see what's operating there?
-
The kingdom is not about a list of rules.
-
It's Jesus saying love one another
-
the way I loved you.
-
Now, I know that's among Christians,
-
but we have a responsibility to
love our neighbor as ourselves
-
out there in this world.
-
If I have the remedy
-
to save people's souls from hell,
-
am I going to sit there and debate?
-
"Show me in the Bible
where I have to go do that!"
-
It's like what is wrong with you?
-
Something is wrong with that person.
-
Just like something is
wrong with the person
-
that can come out of a movie
-
with 50 F-bombs dropped
in the middle of it -
-
"Show me in the Bible
where I can't do that."
-
It's like seriously?
-
Let me ask you guys a question.
-
If you were in the worst part -
-
not of this city,
this is a rather tame city -
-
let's talk St. Louis
or Detroit or Chicago.
-
You imagine you're in
one of the worst parts
-
of one of those cities.
-
You're in an alley.
-
And you see four guys -
-
all you can see is their silhouette
-
from the streetlight behind them.
-
They're walking down
the alley towards you
-
and they're huge.
-
Would it comfort you more
-
to know that they had just
come out of a Bible study?
-
Or that all four of them
just came out of a movie
-
where 50 F-bombs were dropped?
-
Which would make you feel more comfortable
-
walking down that alley?
-
There's testimony issues.
-
Let me ask you this.
-
The guy who's always arguing about why
-
he doesn't have a biblical responsibility
-
to evangelize,
-
or just questions like that:
-
"Show me in the Bible where
I'm supposed to do that."
-
If you were sick at the end of your life
-
and you had to be cared for by somebody,
-
is that the kind of person you want
-
caring for you?
-
"Show me in the Bible where it says that!"
-
That doesn't produce righteousness
-
and peace and joy and love.
-
You know what does that?
-
Learning of Jesus.
-
Jesus said, "Learn of Me."
-
He said, "Take My yoke."
-
He said, "Learn of Me."
-
You see, that's where Paul's coming from.
-
That's not the way you
learned Jesus Christ.
-
Oh brethren, think with me here.
-
Many of you know from
Brother Charles' book
-
about the story of Evangeline Booth.
-
William Booth, Salvation Army -
-
his daughter.
-
You know the story if
you've read the book.
-
Perhaps some of you know it beyond there.
-
Where they were bringing the woman -
-
prisoner, guards carrying her.
-
There's Evangeline
standing off to the side.
-
"How can I reach this woman?"
-
Suddenly, she just steps out there
-
and kisses the woman on the cheek.
-
Show me a law that says
you have to do that.
-
There's no law.
-
There's no rule.
-
I can tell you if I'm
at the end of my life
-
and you're saying,
-
who do you want to care for you?
-
The person who could go
-
watch filthy, bloody, profane,
-
God's name dragged through the mud movies,
-
sex - and want to defend their right
-
to go watch it.
-
You're at the end of your life.
-
Do you want that person to care for you?
-
Or Evangeline Booth?
-
Brethren, it speaks volumes.
-
There is a kind of
New Testament Christianity -
-
do you learn from Christ
-
that going to movies like that -
-
would He do it?
-
Look, if you say yes, I believe He would,
-
then you have a different
Christ than the One I have.
-
What I have isn't the issue.
-
That's a different Christ
than the One here.
-
Here's the problem with people like that.
-
They go through their life constantly
asking what's permissible,
-
rather than what can I do?
-
You see, when I hear about the fact
-
that we're supposed to let our good works
-
be seen before men
-
that they might glorify
our Father in Heaven;
-
or like Peter says,
-
"glorify God in the day of visitation," -
-
again, it's got to do with them
seeing our good works.
-
And Jesus saying, "The works
I did, you will do..." believer.
-
Greater works.
-
You see, one of the things is,
-
people that are always asking,
-
"Where's the line?"
"Where's the minimal line?"
-
"What's permissible?"
-
"What can I get away with?"
-
"Show me in the Bible where it says that."
-
You know what people
like that are not doing?
-
All they're doing is walking through life
-
constrained by legalistic codes,
-
and they're not people who just freely fly
-
on the wings of an eagle to do good.
-
Brethren, the life of the
Christian is not just:
-
"Show me where I can't do that."
-
(Incomplete thought)
-
I met with a couple today
-
who were telling me about their desires
-
to help care for inner city kids.
-
Again, I ask you,
-
you're 89 years old.
-
A family member, somebody from the church,
-
somebody's going to take care of you.
-
You want it to be the person
-
who is thinking:
how can I care for children?
-
Versus living their life like:
-
"I can go to that movie."
-
"Show me in the Bible
where it says I can't."
-
What kind of Christianity do you all want?
-
What kind of person would
you want caring for you?
-
What kind of person would you
want to meet in that alley?
-
Righteousness, peace,
-
joy in the Holy Spirit.
-
Morality - it's always concerned
-
with specific actions.
-
Where holiness is a life picture.
-
Am I being conformed to the image of God?
-
Am I being conformed
to the image of Christ?
-
Is true righteousness all of my life?
-
Is it there?
-
Brethren, everything
in the legalist's mind
-
just gets boiled down
to individual actions.
-
"Is it permissible?"
-
"Is it right? Is it wrong?"
-
"Give me a rule."
"Give me rules."
-
You see, that's what Packer was saying
-
about the Puritans.
-
Their lives are buried deep.
-
It's kind of like the doctrines
we're going through in Ephesians.
-
You notice, this is not a list of rules.
-
What we're dealing with is Paul
-
saying to Christians,
-
as you live your life,
live in the reality:
-
alive with Christ,
raised up with Christ,
-
seated with Christ in the heavenly places
-
in Christ Jesus.
-
That's the reality.
-
We're living life on another plane.
-
We're going to look at texts
-
that tie in over to Colossians.
-
But you're setting your
minds on things above
-
where Christ is seated.
-
You're living on another plane.
-
You're living in another realm.
-
You're outside of this
minimal morality mentality.
-
(incomplete thought).
-
Brethren, don't you see
-
when you come to the New Testament,
-
and you find the
legalists were always like:
-
"Hey! Hey! Put down your bedding!
-
What do you think you're doing?
-
It's the Sabbath!
-
Not permissible to do that!"
-
You see, we can look and we can say,
-
yeah, how did David eat the show bread
-
which he was not supposed to eat?
-
Because brethren, that right there
-
goes to the heart of the matter.
-
Paul made as strong a case
as anybody in the Scriptures
-
that you should pay those
who minister the gospel.
-
And yet, he was the first one to say
-
to the Corinthians and
to the Thessalonians,
-
"I'm not going to take anything."
-
Wait!
-
You set down a law!
-
Don't muzzle the ox!
-
That's the law!
-
You better pay me!
-
(incomplete thought)
-
You see, you miss it.
-
You miss it if you don't recognize
-
that Jesus let the adulteress walk.
-
You say, hey, wait a second.
-
The law said stone her.
-
Or He healed on the Sabbath.
-
Or He let His disciples pick grain,
-
rub them in their hands and eat.
-
Or He told the lame
-
to pick up their bedding and walk.
-
They were "breaking the rules."
-
(Incomplete thought).
-
But you see, if you're just
-
contrained by rules,
-
you don't get it.
-
Jesus looked at those
Pharisees and He said,
-
"That's exactly your problem.
-
You're all about rules."
-
And all rules do is they
leave you on the surface -
-
this thin veneer of morality.
-
That's all it is, because in the heart,
it's a person under the law.
-
Because in the heart, they
really don't want to do it.
-
They're just keeping the rule
-
because they're afraid of the punishment;
-
they're afraid of the
consequences if they don't do it.
-
They're just trapped in there.
-
Rather than standing back and saying:
-
Look, I want mercy, not sacrifice.
-
That's all the rule
keeping is is sacrifice.
-
If you could prove to that person,
-
like, you go over to Ephesians 5
-
and you say, look, filthiness,
-
crude jesting, it's not appropriate.
-
Oh, okay, you showed me the rule.
-
Okay, the movie that I wanted to go see,
-
now I can't because I've got a law.
-
That is such the wrong way.
-
The wrong way.
-
Brethren, you know what you find?
-
The Apostle Paul - think of Philippians 3.
-
The Apostle Paul, when he was lost -
-
religious, moral.
-
It's all about the rules.
-
Boy, I was circumcised on the right day
-
according to the rule.
-
I mean, when it came to the law,
-
I dotted every "I", I crossed every "t."
-
I was right on.
-
I was blameless.
-
Give me a rule - I was right there.
-
I kept them.
-
But what happens once he's saved?
-
You see how his attitude changed?
-
What does he say then?
-
Oh, that I might know Him
-
and the power of His resurrection.
-
Look, we live our lives;
-
we do things.
-
But it's not a matter of
a list of right or wrong,
-
just like Romans 14.
-
It's not: could I in certain circumstance
-
drink wine?
-
It's not just the rule.
-
Paul's looking back and he's looking
-
at how this affects people;
-
how your decisions are a reflection
-
of God Himself;
-
how it reflects what you've
been taught of Christ;
-
how it reflects righteousness;
-
how it reflects peace;
-
how it reflects joy in the Holy Spirit.
-
It's just living on an
entirely higher plane.
-
It's got to do with what does God think?
-
What's His will?
-
What's going to be pleasing?
-
What's going to bring His smile?
-
It's living on that level.
-
(incomplete thought)
-
Listen, you know the Bible talks about
-
bad companionship
-
corrupts good manners.
-
And you can go to the Proverbs
-
and you could find:
-
you want to be wise?
-
Walk with the wise.
-
You want to be a fool?
Walk with fools.
-
You know what?
-
It's almost like with the
invention of electricity,
-
we don't define companions
-
the right way anymore.
-
I read a story one time
-
about a family that let an old man
-
move into their house.
-
And he sat over in the corner.
-
And he was filthy. He was lewd.
-
He used God's name in vain.
-
He just did graphic things,
-
and the whole gist of the story
-
was that old man sitting in the corner
-
doing all those things
and being tolerated by the family
-
was a picture of the television.
-
The thing is it's almost like
-
we have come to the place where we think
-
that a person isn't a companion
-
if a TV screen or a computer
screen separates us.
-
That's not true.
-
What is a companion?
-
This has to do with the idea
-
of people we surround ourselves with.
-
People who we allow to influence us.
-
You may not have a person
-
come into your house,
-
but you may expose yourself
-
on the Internet to people who end up
-
influencing you;
-
people that end up saying things;
-
people that end up injecting
-
a worldview into your mind;
-
people that end up
being a worldly example;
-
people that do things
-
(incomplete thought).
-
Listen, there was a reason why
-
way before movies,
-
way before TV, way before Internet,
-
you put people out of the church.
-
Anybody remember what
one of those reasons was?
-
A little leaven leavens the whole lump?
-
It's amazing how now
-
with all of our electronic apparatuses,
-
we allow people to influence us
-
that church discipline was meant
-
to eradicate from our lives,
-
or right decisions about companionship
-
were meant to eradicate from our lives.
-
You start asking yourself:
-
do you think you can
sit in front of a movie
-
with sex, a horror movie,
-
with graphic language, God defamed,
-
absolutely un-Christian values,
-
worldly perspectives,
-
and that you're going to be uninfluenced?
-
Is that the way you learn Christ?
-
Now, here's what I learn from Christ,
-
that if I have the opportunity
-
to find people like that
-
and to see to be the
one that's the aggressor;
-
to seek to be the one on the offensive;
-
to seek to be the one who goes to the sick
-
bringing the message of the doctor,
-
then that's good.
-
Eating with publicans and sinners,
-
tax collectors - that's good;
-
when we're the one setting the agenda;
-
when we're going in to bring light.
-
But you know the problem is
-
TV's, movie screens, Internet -
-
Internet I guess you have some ability
-
to communicate back and forth,
-
but typically you don't have that.
-
You don't go to the movie to positively
-
influence the actors.
-
(Incomplete thought).
-
Many of you know,
-
every Sunday afternoon, I'm watching -
-
I've got all ten "Dispatches
from the Front" in here,
-
and I just go through them.
-
It keeps my missionary juices flowing.
-
Very often, Friday nights,
-
I love to watch the Q&A times.
-
Ligonier, oftentimes Sproul, MacArthur,
-
different men.
-
There's things that can be
-
tremendously profitable.
-
There can be things that can be
-
tremendously profitable
-
to bring the family together.
-
You can watch certain
documentaries on nature
-
and you can see God's handiwork
-
and get a perspective on
some things in this world
-
that just blow your mind
-
and cause you to
think bigger views of God.
-
But you see, you're evaluating
-
everything from that perspective.
-
Is this going to cause me to worship God?
-
To see God as bigger?
-
Is this going to cause
me to walk more holy?
-
Is this going to cause
me to learn of Christ?
-
Is this going to somehow
help me in my run?
-
Or is this going to impact
my joy in the Holy Spirit?
-
This idea, brethren, what's permissible?
-
Oh, if you've been saved
-
by the blood of Christ,
-
you can't get away from it.
-
It's like every book in our Bible
-
just calls us to recognize,
-
we ought to be living on another plane.
-
And we've got the power to live
-
on that higher plane.
-
This idea of just walking around
-
all the time being guided by
-
a list of rules.
-
You don't need a list of rules
-
for the refrigerator.
-
No more than if you get married,
-
you need a list of rules
-
how to treat your wife.
-
"Don't beat your wife.
-
Kiss wife in morning.
-
Say goodbye when you leave."
-
Your wife would be appalled at that.
-
Listen, don't try to
construct God differently.
-
God created relationships
between man and woman -
-
between us as a reflection
-
of a greater relationship.
-
He wants our heart.
-
He wants our passions.
-
He wants us to do things from love.
-
He wants us to be spontaneous.
-
It doesn't mean there
isn't a place for thinking.
-
It doesn't mean there isn't a
place for studying Scripture.
-
It doesn't mean there isn't a place
-
to let the light of Scripture shine
-
and to be moved and motivated
-
by the Spirit of God through it.
-
But brethren, living a life
-
where righteousness becomes
-
the spontaneous reaction
-
and imitating Christ
-
and walking because we love
-
and we delight in Him.
-
We appreciate our friendship,
-
our relationship with Him.
-
You read that - 1 John -
-
we're walking in the light
-
and we have fellowship.
-
When you get to the place where you
-
appreciate fellowship and you want to fast
-
not because there's a law;
-
not because Jesus said,
-
"When you fast..." that means it's a law.
-
Got to do the law.
-
When the church fasts
quarterly, got to do it.
-
No, it's when you look and you say,
-
"Lord, I just want to
clear all the food out,
-
because I need You, Lord.
-
I need You.
-
I feel like there is a dryness.
-
I feel like a shadow has come between us.
-
Lord, I want to quicken...
-
Lord, I want You to draw near."
-
Brethren, you know,
-
that is what pleases the Lord.
-
When it's all mechanical,
-
when it's all rule keeping,
-
that is not pleasing to Him.
-
That is ugly religion.
-
That is legalism.
-
Legalists are always concerned
-
with the rules - not with God;
-
not with loving their fellow man.
-
They're concerned with the rules.
-
Show me the rule to keep.
-
Rule keeping, rule keeping, rule keeping.
-
Brethren, I know that there are laws
-
in Scripture.
-
I know that.
-
But you know as well as I do,
-
if you just let your mind go,
-
you know -
-
Jesus came along and He said,
-
look, I know you had a law
-
that said not to commit adultery.
-
But look, it's way beyond that.
-
It's way beyond that.
It's learning of Jesus.
-
How do you learn Jesus?
-
Oh, He was pure.
-
He wasn't rude to women.
-
He was kind to them.
-
He treated them with
the utmost of respect.
-
He revealed Himself to Mary first
-
when He was risen.
-
There He was - she thought
He was the gardener.
-
They were gathered around the cross.
-
He took care of His mother.
-
"John, behold your mother."
-
You just watch the way
He dealt with women.
-
It's not a rule.
-
It's not constantly living a rule.
-
Oh, if I look at this,
-
and I'm living in fear of the penalty.
-
See, slaves live in fear of the penalty
-
all the time.
-
It's purity.
-
Fleeing youthful lusts.
-
It's wanting to stay pure.
-
It's wanting to be holy.
-
It's not wanting these things
-
to impact my life,
-
because I don't want to lose sight
-
of God's face.
-
I don't want to lose power.
-
There is a power to do good.
-
There's an enabling.
-
The Spirit of God quickens us.
-
The Spirit of God gives gifts.
-
The Spirit of God gives grace.
-
The Spirit of God empowers us.
-
I don't want to lose that.
-
Quenching the Spirit.
-
You've got grieving the Spirit -
-
that's the idea of a
person that's grieved.
-
That's more of the relationship.
-
Quenching is more of the power,
-
the fire, the light.
-
I don't want that.
-
And brethren, you know,
-
when we fail, when we fall,
-
when we do things,
-
He's faithful and just to forgive us.
-
Scripture says so.
-
And there's a place to run back to Him
-
and not to hesitate.
-
(Incomplete thought).
-
Brethren, we need to live
-
in the reality of that.
-
That we're justified
-
and that we have free access to Him
-
all the time.
-
And we can run back.
-
But we know that grievance
-
in our own heart of having offended Him,
-
losing sight of Him.
-
You now what Peter went through
-
after denying the Lord.
-
And seasons, if we quench the Spirit,
-
we can't find Him.
-
You remember how it was with Christian
-
when he lost his scroll?
-
He's just cursing himself.
-
Ugh! I had to walk the
same ground three times
-
that I only needed to walk once.
-
Why? Because of his foolishness.
-
He went to sleep there
-
at the top of the hill of difficulty
-
at the stile that was made
-
for the rest of the weary pilgrim.
-
But he fell asleep there.
-
He had to walk the same
ground three times.
-
See, it's living with a bigger picture.
-
I don't want to keep walking
-
the same ground over and over.
-
I don't want to fall backwards.
-
I don't want to lose ground.
-
I don't want to lose His smile.
-
I don't want to lose His fellowship.
-
I don't to lose a sense of His love.
-
I don't want to lose any of His power.
-
I don't want that.
-
I want righteousness.
-
I want it to be overflowing.
-
I want to be moving upward
and upward and upward.
-
I want to see Him more.
-
Oh, that I might know Him.
-
Driven like that.
-
As I just mentioned on Sunday,
-
living like the psalmist
-
with a heart that pants after God
-
like the deer is panting after the water.
-
You see, when we live like that,
-
if you look up,
-
eyeball to eyeball with God,
-
I just have to believe,
-
people who can listen
to foul, filthy music
-
and watch dirtbag movies,
-
are they on their knees before they go?
-
Are they asking the Lord,
-
"Help and guide me to do
the most holy things today?"
-
"Help me to be like Evangeline Booth."
-
"Help me to look for opportunities
-
where I can love somebody;
-
where I can plant a kiss."
-
Oh, to have the grace to know
-
when to kiss a woman on the cheek
-
and when it's inappropriate.
-
And what's the kindest thing to do?
-
And to have the right words to speak?
-
My wife said when we got in a discussion
-
about this, she said, you know what?
-
She said, I think that there are
-
just some of God's people
-
who don't know what it's like
-
to actually have holiness in their life
-
and live in the power of that.
-
I'm probably not saying it
exactly how she said it.
-
But she said it something like that.
-
And I think there's a reality there.
-
I think we have some -
-
whether they're just professing Christians
-
or whether they're just immature ones,
-
they just don't know what it is
-
to really experience the power of God
-
that comes with a truly holy life -
-
a consistently holy life.
-
It's like once you've tasted
-
certain things in the Christian life,
-
once you've tasted that the Lord is good,
-
you don't want to go back.
-
You don't want to go back.
-
You don't only not want to go back
-
to how it was when you were lost,
-
you don't want to go back to how it was
-
when you were a less mature Christian.
-
You want more.
-
Comments?