FBCPS
How To Interpret God’s Laws | Leviticus 11-22
How do peculiar laws like banning donkeys from bathtubs in Arizona relate to God’s commandments? Join us in our latest episode as we explore this quirky yet profound connection, celebrating the extraordinary work happening at First Baptist Church, Powder Springs. From the dedication of our worship team and volunteers to the arrival of our new choir and orchestra pastor, Lee Myers, there's much to be grateful for. Plus, hear about exciting events like the Lord’s Supper and the highly anticipated Promotion Sunday for kids and students.
In a delightful twist, we take a humorous detour to look at some of the strangest laws across America, like driving blindfolded in Alabama. These oddities lead us into a serious reflection on the current state of our nation and the importance of prayer, especially during election seasons. By comparing these bizarre laws to the biblical commandments, we uncover how God's laws, no matter how unusual they might seem, are meant to guide and protect us.
Finally, we tackle the challenge of living according to ancient biblical principles in today’s world. By examining the laws in Leviticus and Jesus' teachings, we learn how to resist societal pressures and remain faithful to God's word. We reveal how Jesus' message of love fulfills the law and transforms our desires through His Spirit, highlighting that our righteousness comes from His sacrifice, not our adherence to rules. This episode wraps up with a heartfelt call to worship, reminding us that embracing Jesus' love frees us from the old laws and leads us to a life filled with grace and gratitude.
Thanks for listening! Find us on Instagram or visit our Website.
How do peculiar laws like banning donkeys from bathtubs in Arizona relate to God’s commandments? Join us in our latest episode as we explore this quirky yet profound connection, celebrating the extraordinary work happening at First Baptist Church, Powder Springs. From the dedication of our worship team and volunteers to the arrival of our new choir and orchestra pastor, Lee Myers, there's much to be grateful for. Plus, hear about exciting events like the Lord’s Supper and the highly anticipated Promotion Sunday for kids and students.
In a delightful twist, we take a humorous detour to look at some of the strangest laws across America, like driving blindfolded in Alabama. These oddities lead us into a serious reflection on the current state of our nation and the importance of prayer, especially during election seasons. By comparing these bizarre laws to the biblical commandments, we uncover how God's laws, no matter how unusual they might seem, are meant to guide and protect us.
Finally, we tackle the challenge of living according to ancient biblical principles in today’s world. By examining the laws in Leviticus and Jesus' teachings, we learn how to resist societal pressures and remain faithful to God's word. We reveal how Jesus' message of love fulfills the law and transforms our desires through His Spirit, highlighting that our righteousness comes from His sacrifice, not our adherence to rules. This episode wraps up with a heartfelt call to worship, reminding us that embracing Jesus' love frees us from the old laws and leads us to a life filled with grace and gratitude.
Thanks for listening! Find us on Instagram or visit our Website.
Welcome to First Baptist Church, powder Springs. Put your hands together if you're excited for all that God is doing in your life. In our church. We're just so thankful. God is so good, his hand is upon us, his favor is with us and I just wanna say thank you to our worship team, our production team. I wanna say thank you to all of you who were teaching connection groups or Sunday school classes this morning, bible studies through the week, everybody who were greeters in our hospitality team, parking lot hosts, next step station leaders and all of that. It takes a church to reach a community. Will you put your hands together for everybody that serves here every Sunday morning? We're just so thankful again for all that God is doing.
Speaker 1:We have a lot of things that are going on here in our church. A growing church is a busy church. Can I get an amen and I just put together a little calendar just so you heard from me what all is going on. I'll do this real quick. Next Sunday is the Lord's Supper that we get to take together. The Sunday following that August 4, is going to be Lee Myers. That's our new choir and orchestra pastor. He will start that Sunday. It's also promotion Sunday for all of our kids ministry, all of our student ministry, promoting into a new grade. We'll have group genius tables out. It's kind of like going to Apple store. You got Apple geniuses. They know everything about your device. We'll have a table where there'll be people behind the table that will know everything about our groups. So as you're looking for a group that God may have for you a specific day, a specific time, maybe a specific people, there'll be a group genius there that'll be able to help you find your group. Also, that evening we will have church conference, just so you know that'll be kind of like a regular business meeting for us.
Speaker 1:August the 7th is our. It's a Wednesday night. We're calling it the Great Grill Out. You're invited, all of our church is invited, all of our community is invited. Hamburgers, hot dogs, inflatables, food truck with especially food trucks with dessert Can I get an amen? And games and tailgating and all that is just going to be an incredible Wednesday night. It's a great way of starting school back and just inviting everybody out saying how excited we are about this new semester and then we're looking at August 11.
Speaker 1:That's a Sunday morning. It's for all of our group leaders, all of our Sunday school teachers, bible study leaders, anybody that leads a group here at First Baptist Church, powder Springs, but also it's for anybody who wants to. We have new people who are starting new groups all the time. Maybe you have a study that you want to teach, you have a group of people that you want to reach? Then you can come and be a part of that lunch and we can kind of introduce you to what it looks like to be in a group leader.
Speaker 1:August the 14th is our first Wednesday night of groups. We're very thankful. We're offering more groups than ever before on those Wednesday nights, so our kids can come, our students can come and we have something for everyone on Wednesdays. And then August the 18th, we have our hospitality team lunch. As a reminder, our hospitality team and all of our greeters, everyone in our parking lot, our next step station leaders and, to be honest with you, we need as many people on our hospitality team as possible. If you're not sure where to serve in our church, I would encourage you to be in our hospitality team so that you can be a part of one of our first touches as people come on campus. We want to be known as a welcoming, loving, inviting church, because God loves it when people come to church and be a part of his church. Can I get an amen, man, it's all good. So we're going to start here.
Speaker 1:Turn to Leviticus, chapter 18. Leviticus 18. I know you woke up this morning thinking, oh my goodness, it's Sunday and I get to learn more about Leviticus. You're so excited. Your favorite book of the Bible, and I know this is your favorite topic in your favorite book, leviticus. This morning we are talking about the laws of God, and that just makes your heart race. I know you just can't wait. You just can't wait and I can't wait because God has so much to teach us.
Speaker 1:I want to remind you that our series is called Set Apart, because set apart, the biblical word is holy. Everybody say holy. The biblical word is holy. Everybody say holy, holy, holy means to be set apart. Aren't you thankful that God himself is set apart? He's set apart from everything in creation. He's set apart from everything in the universe. There is nothing beside him, there is nothing above him, everything is below him, nothing and no one is like him. God is set apart to and of himself, and he's the God that you know and he's the God that you worship. Can we put our hands together right now for the Lord, because we're so thankful. What an honor it is to know our God, who set apart.
Speaker 1:But God is not only set apart. God is also very loving and compassionate. God's heart is to set people apart, to set people apart to him. What is salvation? Salvation is being set apart from sin to him because you're saved through Jesus. So we see this in the word of God that God loves to set us apart from all of the other people in the world. But the only thing that makes us different from everyone else is we're just forgiven, not because we're better people, but just because we believe in Jesus and he forgives us. Amen. And so we get to be set apart to God because of Jesus.
Speaker 1:So I think about even our country, how, even our nation. We are called to be set apart from every other country, from every other nation, because our country, our nation, was birthed to be governed and ruled by the laws and principles and truths that come from God's word. But right now our country's in turmoil. Right now our country's in trouble, because the further we get away from God, the more trouble we get into as a nation. Can I get an amen. And so we need to be a country that returns to the word and the worship of God, so that we can be a set apart country again, not because we're not so that we can be a better country, but so that we can be a country who just loves God and who loves to obey God.
Speaker 1:So as we look at Leviticus I mean I know, you know, leviticus really comes up with a lot of weird laws that we're gonna get into. That's why we don't love reading it, because we're not sure what to do about it. We're not sure what it has to do with us. But let's just remember, in every country, even in our country, we have weird laws, and I read these laws on the internet. It's on the internet, so you know it's true. So let me just go through a couple of these.
Speaker 1:There has been a law in Alabama. In Alabama, my home state, so I'm probably a reflection there's a law in the state of Alabama that it is illegal to drive blindfolded. It's illegal to drive blindfolded. Now let's just stop for a second and remember. The reason that there are laws is because someone has done something so stupid that they've had to create a law for it. So some dumb redneck in Alabama was driving around blindfolded caused so much harm that they literally had to create a law. So, number one, I'm embarrassed that that's my home state. Number two I wanna know why doesn't every state have that law to not drive blindfolded? Secondly, arizona Did you know there has been a law in Arizona that donkeys are not allowed to sleep in bathtubs?
Speaker 1:Yes, you heard me. Donkeys are not allowed to sleep in bathtubs, which means this has happened before in the past. What in the world happened? I want to know. I want to know the story behind it. Some guy had a really tired donkey. The only place he could lay him down was a bathtub, and some poor, unsuspecting lady went to take a bath. And you can just do the math with the rest. Whatever happened.
Speaker 1:Georgia here we go, the great state of Georgia. Did you know? In Georgia it is illegal to keep an ice cream cone in your back pocket on Sundays. Can I get an amen? It's illegal. So if you come to church and you hear the music start and you're not done with your ice cream, no, no, no, you cannot put it in your back pocket. That has already been done and there has been a law written on that Illinois, illinois. In Illinois, it is against the law to give a lit cigar to a pet. I did not know that there were rednecks in Illinois, but I guess there are there too. And then last Iowa did you know that one-armed piano players must perform for free? I would have thought they should get double, just personally, but they must perform for free.
Speaker 1:And so we think about our country. Our country has crazy laws and we know that God's word has some laws that we don't completely understand. But again, I just want to just stop and just reflect for a minute on what is happening in our country, because of who we're called to be and how our nation began and how our country started. And now we just know a lot more of what took place Saturday, a week ago, and how sad it is to be a country to where people feel like that. They have to resort to violence in order to get their own political ways, and I just believe that, more than ever, we need to be praying for our country.
Speaker 1:It's an election season. It's an election year. Obviously we need to be praying for our church. We need to be praying for our country. It's an election season. It's an election year. Obviously, we need to be praying for our church, we need to be praying for our community, we need to be praying for Christians out there, because there are some times that we will get more passionate about who gets in the White House than who is getting into heaven. There are some passionate sometimes that we get even more passionate about our vote than we are about our voice for the gospel.
Speaker 1:But I do believe that we're called to be American citizens. I do believe that we're called to vote. I believe that it is not only our opportunity, I believe that it is our responsibility and I believe that, as Christians, we need to vote according to God's word, according to the conscious, however, that the Lord is speaking to you. But I believe, even more so, even as important as voting is, praying for our country is the most important thing we can do, because we need to see God move, we need to see the hand of God on our nation. Can I pray for us, heavenly Father, in Jesus' name, god, we just stop and we pray for our country because our country is to worship you, our country is to reflect you, our country is to live as one nation under God, god under you. And so, father, I just I pray that you would not take your hand of blessing from our country. God, I pray that we would return to you. God, I pray for a revival in the churches of this nation, that we would turn and we would cast our eyes on Jesus. And God, that you would heal our land.
Speaker 1:Father, we pray for those in political office, god, we pray that, father, that you would fill them with your spirit, that, god, they would think and they would lead from your word. Father, that you would fill them with your spirit, that, god, they would think and they would lead from your word. And, father, we pray for President Biden, we pray for former President Trump. God, we do pray for their protection, as we wish no harm on any man. And, father, we just pray that this would continue to be a country of peace, it would continue to be a country of freedom, continue to be a country of peace, it would continue to be a country of freedom, continue to be a country of love, and that all of those qualities would always be reflected from your word. God, we love you and we pray these things in Jesus' name, and all God's people said amen.
Speaker 1:So what I wanna show you this morning are these laws that we found, that we find in Leviticus and even all throughout the Old Testament, and sometimes we get all tripped up on them and we're like God, what are you doing? There's so many weird laws, so many odd laws, so many things that don't seem to have to do with us. I want to explain that this morning, but the one thing that I want you to be sticking out in your mind I want you to write it down right now is this God's law reveals God's love. God's law reveals God's love. In other words, could you imagine being one of the Israelites and you had no other law code to live by than the laws that God gives you in his word? And that is supposed to be what is behind the laws of a country? Because it's behind the laws of God. We're going to see God's love in his laws, and what the law is supposed to do is supposed to drive us toward love.
Speaker 1:So this morning, what we're gonna study is how to interpret God's laws. In other words, when you read the Bible I want you to be able when you read Exodus, leviticus, numbers, deuteronomy and all throughout the Old Testament, and then when the New Testament, like Romans, talks about the laws of God. I want you to be able to theologically, biblically interpret what God is speaking to you. We'll be looking at Leviticus 11 through 22. Go ahead and turn to Leviticus 18 right now. Leviticus 18, and we're going to look at how to interpret and how to interpret God's laws. We're going to look at the law and the Old Testament, the law and the Old Testament. Then we'll go and we'll look at the law in Jesus and then we'll end out with the law in you. And what does the law have to do with you? Look at Leviticus 18, one through five.
Speaker 1:It says and the Lord spoke to Moses saying speak to the people of Israel and say to them I am the Lord, your God. You shall not do as they do in the land of Egypt, where you lived, and you shall not do as they do in the land of Canaan, to which I'm bringing you. You shall not walk on their statutes. You shall follow my rules and keep my statutes and walk in them. I am the Lord, your God. You shall therefore keep my statutes and my rules. If a person does them, he shall live by them. I am the Lord. So if you can just put yourself one of the most powerful things you can do when you are reading your Bible is to put yourself in the places of one of the people.
Speaker 1:And so imagine you're an Israelite and you're coming out of Egypt and Israel lived there for 430 years, and there is such thing as a temptation, a tendency, to become like the culture around you. And so what we see here just like we have a temptation, a tendency to become like the American political culture around us or just a culture that surrounds us maybe it's not political, maybe there's just a pressure around you to bend or to break the rules of God, to not stick out, to blend in, to be like those who are around you. God says I don't want you to be like those where you came from. Don't be like the Egyptians it might be a reminder for us. Don't be like how it was in the home that you grew up in. Don't be like the friends that you grew up with. Don't become like the sin of your dad. Don't become like the sin of your dad. Don't become like the sin of your mom. Don't be preconditioned into the environment in which you were raised.
Speaker 1:God is saying that there's a tendency in all of us to become like maybe the foundation of which we were raised in. But also he says I don't want you to go and do what they're doing in the land of Canaan. He says also there's a tendency that to go and do what they're doing in the land of Canaan. He says also there's a tendency that when we're living in a new place or around a new people, or in a new job, or in a new school, or in a new neighborhood, or in a new culture or a new group of friends, that we become like them too. And what God is simply saying is I've not called you to be like anybody, but to be like me.
Speaker 1:And God is saying we need to be in the word of God so that we know how to live like him. And what happens, he said, when you keep my statutes and my rules if a person does them, then by them you shall live. In other words, by the word of God is where you're gonna find what life is really meant to feel like. When you obey God, you find life. When we sin, we find death is what God is saying. And so God is showing us all, throughout his word, this natural danger of peer pressure and social pressure and cultural pressure and political pressure. And he's calling us don't bend, don't bow, don't break to the pressure that surrounds you.
Speaker 1:And so we think about the laws of God, and all this sounds great and fine, but then we get into some really weird things in Leviticus about God's law, that I'm like God, I get this, but when I get into the laws I'm not exactly sure what you're talking about. I'm not sure what to obey today, what not to obey today, what applies to me, what doesn't apply to me. Because we come across some laws that are like I don't think that's for me. And laws like this, like Leviticus 11.7,. And the pig, because it parts the hoof and is cloven-footed but does not chew the cud, is unclean to you, which means thou shall not eat pulled pork. Amen, right, it's like man. I reject that in the name of Jesus. I like me some pulled pork. So what do we do with this? Leviticus 11, 9,.
Speaker 1:Then you shall eat of all that is in the waters, everything in the waters and that has fins and scales, whether in the seas or in the rivers, you may eat. Well, guess what? Shrimp and crab and lobster does not have scales or fins. So thou shalt not eat thou fried popcorn, shrimp when you're on a beach vacation and we're thinking, well, I'm just going to go be a sinner. Then, god, because I love me some fried shrimp. He goes on to say Leviticus 3.17. It'll be a statue forever through your generations, in all your dwelling places, that you eat neither fat nor blood.
Speaker 1:I had me a ribeye steak last night. Can I get an amen? I was at Texas Roadhouse. Why? Because I'm a Christian. That's where Christians go to eat. How do I? Because I see all of you there all the time and we love, we love steak, we love fat. I like medium, medium, rare, I like it. So does this still apply to us?
Speaker 1:Leviticus 19, 19. Nor shall you wear a garment of cloth made with two kinds of material. If we're in polyester this morning, you are a sinner. Exodus 23, 19. You shall not boil a goat in its mother's milk. That, exodus 23, 19,. You shall not boil a goat in its mother's milk. That's just weird. Why, god? Why do you have these laws in your word? Well, we need to understand what God is doing. See, what God is doing is he's protecting his people. He's protecting his people in a lot of ways.
Speaker 1:The Levitical laws, even the Old Testament law you ever thought about this before Was, honestly, it was a one-stop shop where they got their. It was like their medical journal, it was like their legal system, their religious rituals, and it was like a moral handbook all in one. God was not saying that all of these things were sin. What God was saying is, because you don't have doctors and you don't have nurses, you're out in the wilderness, you don't have hospitals and you don't have WebMD and you can't Google it and see. You know all these different effects on you, and you are coming out of Egypt and you're going into Canaan, and so you need some social laws, you need some civil laws, you need some ceremonial laws, some religious laws and some moral laws and religious laws and some moral laws, and you have all of these things that God is throwing in to where. It is just what they lived by, it's all they had.
Speaker 1:And so we come to these laws. We're thinking, well, god, what do I do with this? Why can't I eat these things? It's kind of like I was in line in a grocery store one time and I saw this little girl pop out of line and she went behind the cash register counter. The mom didn't see her but I was watching her and she went and she dug her hands in a garbage can and she pulled a cup out of the garbage can from the grocery store and started sipping through the straw whatever was left in that cup. And I'm gagging, trying to get the mom's attention, to get her daughter, because who knows what she's drinking. My dad and I I remember watching a little boy one time at a baseball ballpark and little boy's just sucking on a pacifier and he takes the pacifier out and he sees a dog and he holds it up to the dog and the dog just flicks it and the boy puts it back in his mouth. You know and again I'm just that is terribly nasty.
Speaker 1:I've been to the Amazon jungle before, one of the last villages before. All there is is indigenous jungle, and we had to go in and we had to teach them some, just to be honest, great people, loving people. They just don't know. We had to go in and teach them hygiene Just because they had never been taught. No one had ever gone to teach them. They did not know about mold, mildew, sickness, disease, death and what all could bring it on. And so here's what God is doing.
Speaker 1:There are actually a lot of different kinds of laws in Leviticus. There's dietary, there's childbirth, skin diseases, mildew, bodily fluids, sexual immorality, miscellaneous child sacrifice laws, priesthood laws, offerings, why? Because God is saying here's how not to be like them and here's how to be like me. So if you just want to sum it up very succinctly so that you understand what are the five major purposes of the Old Testament law, you came to the right place because you woke up wanting to know that this morning. I hope this is so encouraging and so uplifting to you.
Speaker 1:Number one the purpose of the Old Testament law God wanted to save his people from sickness, disease and death. Number two God wanted to keep his people from harming, hurting and hating one another. Number three God wanted to set his people apart from the other nations. Why he wanted them to be set apart? So the other nations would see them as different, as unique. So they would come and say who is your God and how can we serve him.
Speaker 1:Number four God wanted to show his people their inability to obey the law. The ultimate purpose of the law was to reveal the holiness of God and the sinfulness of man. It was to show them that there's no way that you can obey at every single point. So, number five, you have a need for a savior. And isn't it interesting that sometimes we think that they were saved by the law? No, they were not saved by the law, that's impossible. They were saved by faith in God, through the sacrificial system and by looking to God and giving their life to him right. And so you even see, remember, god has because we've already talked about these God has already set up the tabernacle, he's already set up the priest, he's already set up the sacrifices, and then he gives them all the laws, which means that God has always been a God that saves people by grace, never by law. Can I get an amen? God is a God of grace.
Speaker 1:Maybe you're here this morning, maybe you're watching this morning, maybe you need to go to someone after this morning and remind them God does not save you based off of your performance, based off of your obedience. Rather, he saves you based off of Jesus' obedience and your belief in him. So we see this all throughout the scriptures. But what were they called to do? Because the law was to reveal God's love and to reveal God's character. Also, psalm 119.97, david said this was to be their heart. Oh, how I love your law. It is my meditation all the day.
Speaker 1:Why would they love the law of God? Well, if the law revealed the character of God, the love of God, then they would love the law as much as they love God, because the law itself would reveal God. But they would also see that they could not obey the whole law, and so they were convicted and they were ashamed and they were guilty. So God made them some powerful promises Jeremiah 31, 33. For this covenant that I will make with you, speaking of the new covenant, the New Testament, the gospel with the house of Israel, after these days declares the Lord, I will put my law within them or within you, and I will write it on their hearts or your hearts. And I will write it on their hearts or your hearts and I will be their God, your God and you shall be my people. In other words, back then they did not have what it took to obey God. They were full of sin, but they were not yet full of the Spirit. We get the Spirit of God at salvation to where his laws are written on our hearts, to where we want what he wants. It says in Ezekiel 36, 27,. God promised in the Old Testament and I will put my spirit within you and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules, which means, if you're a Christian, if you're a believer, if you're saved, you love to obey God because you have the spirit of God within you. It is the promise of God that he gave them in the Old Testament, that he revealed and he has fulfilled in the New Testament, that now we get what God is giving to us, so that now we have the power to obey God, never perfectly, not in perfection, as I love to say, but in direction as we follow after him.
Speaker 1:So what do you do with the law when you come across the Old Testament? Does that mean because so many of these laws just had to do with their sacrifices, which we know that are done today, because of Jesus' sacrifice, because it was their dietary law, because it was their civil code, because it was their social law, because it was all of these different ways in which they were to live? Does that mean that we just need to skip or skim over those passages of Scripture when we read the Bible? I don't think so. In fact, I think when it is your and my temptation to skim and to speed up our reading through difficult passages of Scripture. I think that's probably our cue to slow down and to think for a second. God, what are you trying to teach me? I don't understand this. What are you trying to show me?
Speaker 1:Because 2 Timothy 3, verses 16 and 17, says for all scripture is God-breathed and is profitable for doctrine and rebuke and correction and instruction in righteousness, that every law of God, while we are not held to the Old Testament law, that it still reveals the character, nature and love of God, not just to the Israelite but also to us. God left us all of the word of God so that we can know all of the character of God. And so here's what we see not only the law in the Old Testament, but we come to the New Testament the law in Jesus. I wanted to give you just a big biblical theology of the Old Testament, but we come to the New Testament the law in Jesus. I wanted to give you just a big biblical theology of the Old Testament law so we never have to preach this again. And all God's people said amen, all right, here we go the law in Jesus. Matthew 22, 36 through 40.
Speaker 1:They asked Jesus about the Old Testament law Teacher, which is the great commandment in the law, and Jesus said to them here's what it is you shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart and all your soul and with all your mind. He said this is the great and first commandment, and a second is likened to it you shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commands depends all of the law and the prophets. So Jesus said it all comes down to two things Love the Lord, your God, with all of you, all of your heart, all your soul, all your mind, all your strength. And then love your neighbor. Love other people as much as you naturally love yourselves. So watch what Jesus is doing. This is fascinating to me. He's breaking down the two commandments into only just two commands.
Speaker 1:The 10 commandments look at it. First four have everything to do with loving God with all your heart, your soul, your mind and your strength. Have no other gods. Don't make yourself a carved image. Don't take the name of the Lord, your God, in vain. Remember the Sabbath, god's day and keep it holy. That is loving the Lord, our God, with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength. The first four. The last six are loving your neighbor as yourself. Honor your father and your mother. You shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not bear false witness, you shall not covet.
Speaker 1:What is Jesus saying? Instead of just trying to remember the law at all times, if you just focus on loving God and out of your love for God and out of the way that his word calls you to love him, then love others in the way that his word calls you to love him, then love others in the way that his word calls you to do. In other words, we're not just trying to live by a law, jesus said. We're trying to live by love, the love that the spirit of God births within us. He said if you just focus on love, you don't have to worry about law. Jesus said this is my way, but it's fascinating because we are guilty, just as they are guilty.
Speaker 1:James 2.10 says for whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become guilty of all of it. In other words, if I am a righteous person and just commit one sin, commit one mistake, then I'm guilty of all of it. Why? Because it's all synced together in the character of God, which means those five seconds that I just paused. Both you and I just sinned enough to be worthy of hell, apart from Jesus, because you and I did not love the Lord, our God, with all of our heart, all of our soul, all of our mind and all of our strength, and we did not love our neighbor as our self.
Speaker 1:There is something about as a Christian that we need to constantly come to the end of ourselves and remember it's not my righteousness. God doesn't love me because of my goodness. God doesn't keep me saved because of my obedience. God doesn't keep me saved because of my obedience. The only business, the only reason, the only way that I have being a child of God is because of what Jesus has done for me. Can I get an amen?
Speaker 1:Which is why we see in Matthew 5, 17 that Jesus said. He said don't think that I've come to abolish the law. In other words, jesus didn't just say, hey, everything's okay, just live however you wanna live. Jesus said no, I did not come to abolish the law of the prophets, I've come to fulfill them, which means that every single thing that Jesus did, he was obeying the laws. If the law said to not do it. Jesus didn't do it. If the law said to do it, jesus did it. In other words, jesus is perfectly sinless and righteous. Everything that was not to be done, he didn't do. Everything that was to be done, he did. Why? Because it's impossible for me and for you in order to do that.
Speaker 1:So the Bible says and this is just one of my favorite passages of all scriptures 2 Corinthians 5.21, for our sake, god made Jesus to be sin. Jesus did not just bear your sin. As Christians, we need to be welling up daily with gratitude and thankfulness for what Jesus did for us at the cross. We need to be welling up with thankfulness and gratitude that he didn't just bear our sin. The Bible says that he became our sin. He became your sin. Why did he become your sin? So that we don't just carry or bear the righteousness of God.
Speaker 1:The Bible says that so that you become the righteousness of God. That Jesus' righteousness has now become your standing with God, so you don't live by the law. Jesus doesn't look at you and say I don't love you because you were so disobedient this week. Jesus doesn't look at you and say, oh, I'm just so proud of you because you were so good this week. No, he just loves you because he became your sin and you've become his righteousness, and he died this death on our behalf and rose from the dead so that you don't have to live in fear, you don't have to live in this legalism back and forth.
Speaker 1:How does God feel about me today? Is he pleased with me? Or is he embarrassed of me? Because sometimes I feel like that Satan tricks us and he fools us into living a legalistic life, to where we think that if I'm obedient, then God is pleased with me. But yet I can't be obedient. So God is never pleased with me. So why should I even try, when the Bible says that he's fully pleased with you, not based upon you, but based upon Jesus and what Jesus has done for you? So I think the most important part of this, after we talk about Jesus, is so what do we do? What do we do with it all? How do we understand the law of all scripture?
Speaker 1:Romans 8 too, says for the law, the spirit of life, hear me has set you free in Christ Jesus, from the law of sin and death. Some people think that the law of God is so entrapping and holds them down that they can't live in freedom. And Jesus says it's actually the other way around. It's that Jesus gives us his spirit and he frees us up. He frees us to not be enslaved by sin. He frees us to be able to live his commands. John 14, 15, jesus said you want to know if you love me. You want to know how you know if you love me Is if you obey my commands. Why? Because when we love him and we give our life to him, he gives us his spirit and his spirit changes our desires and we just love him and we love to do what he's asked us to do. And so, jesus, now we no longer live by this Old Testament law code, but watch what Jesus has done.
Speaker 1:When you read the New Testament, you start reading the commands of Jesus and the commands of the apostles and all the New Testament writers. You can tell they're taking the Old Testament law and they're running them through the lens and they're running them through the filter of the gospel. To where? Now? These are commands, not just laws to live by or die, but these are commands to live by, to live to find freedom and notice what he does, the goodness of God, when we obey as the Father. Jesus said as the Father has loved me, so I love you. He said so abide or continue in my love, and if you keep my commandments you'll abide in my love, just as I've kept my father's commandments and abide in his love. These things I've spoken to you. Listen, if you keep my commandments, my joy will be in you and your joy will be full. Linked together, obedience and joy. Because obeying Jesus is the best thing that you could ever do for your life, and he knows it's so good for you that he puts his joy in it so that when you obey him, you enjoy him and you enjoy life all the more. The more you disobey, the more you struggle, strain in life, the more you go through. That is so hard in your life. But the more that you obey doesn't mean that everything's gonna be easy. It means that he's going to give you joy that's going to supersede all of the difficulty in your life.
Speaker 1:Galatians 6.2,. He talks about the law of Christ, these commands. One of those is to, he says bear one another's burdens and so fulfill the law of Christ. In other words, we are called to be a church. And he says part of his commands, or, if we love him, what we will obey him. Doing is to bear one another burdens. We're a church, we're the family of Jesus.
Speaker 1:We don't let people go through things by themselves. We don't let people go through things by themselves. We come to them and we say how can I pray for you, how can I help you, how can I serve you? That's why it is so important to be a part of a Sunday school class, a connection group, a Bible study, because you don't know people's real burdens in life unless you're doing life together with them. This is not an opportunity to unload your burdens on others. This is an opportunity to serve them and the burdens that you learn about them and so fulfill the law of Christ in your life, because you get more joy when you serve others than when others serve you.
Speaker 1:But if the last thing I can say, the last thing I wanna share with you this morning, is the last command that Jesus left before he left the earth, the command that we're supposed to focus on all of our lives, let's go back Matthew 28, 19 to 20. The last command that Jesus ever gave, right before he ascended into heaven, the command that's supposed to be first on our hearts and our minds and in our lives. Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations. What does that mean? That means just go, share the gospel. How do you make a disciple? Jesus is the one that makes disciples. We share the gospel. People believe and they become a disciple, they become a learner, they become a follower of Jesus. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations. And then what? Baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. From what I understand, next week there's going to be six people getting baptized here in this service. Next week. Put your hands together right now for all that God is doing. Six people getting baptized because the work that God is doing.
Speaker 1:Can I ask you a question? Has anyone ever been baptized because of your ministry in their life? That's not to be a guilt trip, it's to be inspiration that God wants to use you in such of a way that someone could get saved and baptized because your ministry in them. And then, once they're saved and once they're baptized, then we get to teach them to observe everything that God has commanded us. And Jesus said behold, I am with you always, even into the end of the age, which means this that you're never obeying his commands alone, you're filled with the spirit, filled with his love. It's like a balloon filled with helium it can't help but float. And we can't help but obey, not in perfection, but in direction. Because it's our honor to follow Jesus, I'm gonna ask every head to be bowed and every eye to be closed. With every head bowed and every eye closed, maybe right now is your opportunity just to tell Jesus.
Speaker 1:Jesus, help me to love you. Jesus, help me to love others. Help me to love you, jesus, help me to love others. May my heart's desire be to obey you. May I not be like how things were when I was a kid, when I was growing up. May my life not be like those that I'm surrounded with. God, I just pray that I would just be like you. I pray that I wouldn't be like my emotions. I pray that I wouldn't be like my thoughts. I pray that I wouldn't be like my feelings. God, I pray that I would be like you. God, help me to love you and help me to love others.
Speaker 1:And the Bible says that if you've never truly given your life to Jesus, that God loves you so much that God wants to forgive you and God wants to save you and maybe you're here this morning and I pray that, if that is you, that God would be convicting you right now. And you know, the number one thing you need in life is God. So right here, right now, I just wanna encourage you that you could give your life to God right now, because Jesus gave all of his life for you. Right here, right now, you can pray a prayer like this I can't pray it for you, I can't save you, but you can pray this to God and he'll save you. You can just say God, I need you, I believe in you, god, I believe in Jesus, your son, that he died on the cross for my sins and I ask him to forgive me of all my sin. From your own heart and your own words, you can say God, I believe that Jesus rose from the dead and so I turn from my sin and I turn to give my life to him. Jesus, I call on you to be the Lord of my life, because the Bible says if you confess with your mouth that he is Lord and believe with your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Call on Jesus right now. Jesus, be my Lord.
Speaker 1:God, we believe that we pray that in Jesus name and all God's people said amen. Would you put your hands together right now for anybody who gave their life to Jesus, here in this moment? Today is their day of salvation. We just want to say welcome to the family of God. We are here for you.
Speaker 1:I'm going to ask us all to stand up right now and we're going to sing one last time, and I just want you to sing with the memory, with the reminder that you are no longer held to the Old Testament law, but you're held by the love of Jesus. Let's sing out of our gratefulness and thankfulness of all who Jesus is and all that Jesus has done. Heavenly Father, we pray Lord, as we offer you our worship, as we offer you our praise. God, I ask, lord, that you would be pleased. You would be glorified, jesus, you would be exalted from our church, first Baptist Church, powder Springs. From each and every heart, god, I pray that every heart in this room, right here, right now, would worship you Because you love them. We pray these things in Jesus' name, amen. Let's lift our voices to him.