FBCPS
Sermons, teachings, and podcasts from First Baptist Church in Powder Springs, Georgia.
FBCPS
God's Laws on Repeat | Deuteronomy 5-26
What if God's laws aren't restrictive rules but expressions of a divine love that guide us to live abundantly? This episode promises to explore the transformative power of God's love in our lives as we celebrate a family's journey of faith leading to six baptisms, with a seventh on the way. We're thrilled to welcome Pastor James Wilson and his family to our community, and we invite you to support them as they embark on this new chapter with us. We'll also share details about our upcoming Next Step Lunch on November 3rd—an opportunity for everyone to discover more about our church's mission and growth.
We'll walk through the purpose and significance of God's laws, tracing their roots back to the Old and New Testaments. Our conversation sheds light on how Jesus fulfilled these laws, allowing us to inherit righteousness through faith. We emphasize that our primary citizenship lies in God's kingdom, and His laws are designed to reveal His character and culture, showing us how to live lives of love and obedience. We highlight the importance of revisiting these divine principles, noting how they played a crucial role during the Israelites' journey to the Promised Land.
Join us as we explore the profound message of loving God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and how Jesus' teachings encapsulate this in the New Testament. We discuss the structure of the Ten Commandments, focusing on themes of love for God and others, and how this love manifests in our daily lives. Listen in as we conclude with a celebration of those who have dedicated their lives to Jesus, encouraging listeners to take their next steps in faith and welcoming them into our spiritual family. Through prayer and reflection, we seek the righteousness of Jesus to inspire our obedience and witness to others, reminding us that living out God's love is a journey rooted in faith and grace.
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And we are so thankful for all that God is doing. He's doing so much and I just love to tell you a little bit about it every week, and I just want to highlight this week one thing that God is doing, and God is particularly working in a family and a family started coming to church and more of their family started to come, and more of their family started to come and more of their family started to come. And this family, just over the past few months, has experienced six baptisms in their family alone and I was told this morning to be expecting a seventh. So put your hands together, just what God is doing to change lives. He's changing families, he's changing our church and we're so thankful because we all need Jesus. Amen, I need Jesus, you need Jesus and we all need to experience him. I do want you to know that we are. We wanna bless Pastor James, as he is here with us now, james Wilson and his family, and he's right here down front and there's gonna be a box out in our lobby. It looks like one of the deacon ballot boxes and it's gonna be a place for the next couple of weeks. That just whatever the Lord lays on your heart. However, you wanna bless the Wilson family just to put any cash or check or any gift cards in that box and just bless them as becoming a part of our church family, because we're so blessed by them, we're so thankful that God has called them to us. Can we put our hands together and thank God for the Wilson family, pastor James and Allison and Eli and Ellie. We're so thankful for them and their little baby on the way, baby boy on the way as well, due in December.
Speaker 1:I also want you to know we have a very special lunch coming up on Sunday November 3rd. It is what we call our Next Step Lunch. If you've been coming here for a long time or maybe you're new here, this lunch is for anybody and everybody. We just want you to register. It's a free lunch and you get to learn more about what God is doing here at First Baptist Powder Springs, what God is doing behind the scenes, all the opportunities that God is giving you here to grow in him. It's a free lunch. It's free childcare. We just ask you to register and it's gonna be back in our fellowship hall right behind that wall at 12 noon on Sunday November 3rd.
Speaker 1:And if you've not done a Next Step lunch. We would love for you to be a part of that. Let's pray, heavenly Father, we love you and God, we just pray that you would bless your word this morning. God, life is all about your word because your word is all about you. And so, father, we just pray, god, that you would show us, god, that you would speak to us, god, that you would move us this morning in the way that you have ordained and desired. And, god, we just pray for your will to be done. And God, we pray for your way and your church. In Jesus' name, and all God's people said amen.
Speaker 1:I came across a news report that said earlier this year in India there was a man that they said was seemingly intoxicated so you know what that means seemingly intoxicated and he said he was so seemingly intoxicated that this man was at a zoo in the nation of India. And this man, who was seemingly intoxicated, apparently, he started telling the people around him that he wanted to get a selfie with a lion, with a real lion. And so what did that man do? He climbed over a wall and then he climbed over a chain link fence and then he jumped into a lion enclosure. All along the way. The people were screaming at him, the zookeepers were shouting at him, the people that worked the zoo was warning him don't do it, don't do it. And he jumps in to get a selfie with a lion and the lion killed him. You better believe it. And the lion killed him. You just can't make it. I didn't know there was enough alcohol in the world to be that intoxicated. To be honest with you, that man is crazy, right.
Speaker 1:But also, as I'm talking about this morning about God's laws, I just want to remind us this morning what sin is. And often, when I sin, when you sin, when we sin, it often looks similar. Why? Because the Bible actually calls Satan that he is like a roaring lion. He is prowling around. 1 Peter 5, 8 says he is seeking whom he may devour, and so what we see when we fall into sin. What are we doing? That we are literally jumping over God's laws, that we are literally jumping over God's laws. We are hurtling over, we're scaling God's commands, we're ignoring God's people who are warning us, we're ignoring what God's word says and we are trying to get to a ferocious animal or, as the Bible calls himself, the accuser, satan, the enemy. All so that we can please self. And so this morning there's a sermon that God has given me, for me, first and foremost, for us as a church, just to remind us, as we're going through the book of Deuteronomy, exactly what God's word says about God's laws, exactly what God's word says about God's laws. In fact, I think that, as a Christian, that I always need to have a new perspective on God's laws. I think that you, as a Christian, we need new perspective on God's laws, and here's what I mean by that.
Speaker 1:Often, satan, or even the world, will tempt us into thinking that God's laws are designed to hold you back, to hold you down, that God does not want you to have fun, that God does not want you to enjoy life, that God is a killjoy, that God is a party pooper. You can't say party pooper without smiling. Look at somebody just telling party pooper right now. You can't do it, it's impossible without smiling. God is not a party pooper without smiling. Look at somebody just telling party pooper right now. You can't do it, it's impossible without smiling. God is not a party pooper. In fact, what God says is he wants you to have life, and to have life abundantly. And so, as we look at God's word and about God's laws. There's a few things here that I want us to understand about his words and about his law.
Speaker 1:I want you to see this morning that God's laws reveal his character and his culture for his kingdom. In other words, god's law is not just what's on the do and the do not list. God's law is not just on the good or the naughty list. God's law the reason God gives his law to his people because God wants to reveal himself to them. In other words, if you wanna live like me, then here is how you should live. And also it's a culture that God has given us.
Speaker 1:What is a culture? A culture is a way of life for a group of people. So his laws are actually the ways of our life. For what? For his kingdom. See, you and I. If you're a Christian, if you believe in Jesus, if you believe the gospel, then you and I. If you're a Christian, if you believe in Jesus, if you believe the gospel, then you and I.
Speaker 1:We are not first and foremost citizens of America. We are not first and foremost citizens of our heritage, of our nationality. We are first and foremost citizens of the kingdom of God. Can I get an amen and it is our responsibility. It's our joy to be able to live out the culture of God's kingdom. Also, as we talk about God's laws this morning, I want you to see that God's laws reveal how he loves and how we how you, how I should live. It's actually revealing the love of God.
Speaker 1:So you may be here this morning and, as we're talking about God's laws which honestly is a very difficult topic to study as a pastor it's a very difficult topic to preach as a pastor. So just be patient with me this morning and just pour grace over this whole sermon. It's not easy, because God's law is referenced all throughout the Bible. Your Bible is made up of 75% of the Old Testament, about 25% of the New Testament, and the Old and the New all reference God's law and we've gotta do so in about 30 minutes or less, amen, and so it's not very easy.
Speaker 1:But here's some things that we need to understand is that maybe you're here this morning and you are struggling with a decision. Maybe you've got a big life decision that you're making, or maybe you've been struggling with making little decisions along the way. Maybe you find yourself you feel like you continue to make the wrong decisions. I want you to know that a knowledge of God's law is there to help us to be able to make wise decisions, godly decisions that God would bless. I want you to know that if you're here this morning and maybe you're struggling with sin and maybe you've just been giving in, and I want you to know you're not alone. We don't judge you. We love you, god loves you. We all struggle with sin in some way, shape or form. But if that's you this morning, I want you to know that it's God's law that helps us, that it gives us power over sin, because it reveals God's love and reveals how we are called to live. Or maybe you're here this morning and you are struggling in your relationship with God because you feel like that you can't. You can't shirk the burden on your life of you just can't be obedient enough to God, and you find yourself asking the question, or Satan is tempting you to question yourself and asking why would God love you? Does God really love you? What is there in you that God would find lovable? Because Satan is tempting you into asking, because you're not living your life For God, you're living your life for yourself.
Speaker 1:We're looking at the book of Deuteronomy and we're calling this series Repeat. Everybody say Repeat. We're calling it Repeat because God is leading his people through the wilderness for 40 years and they are getting to the Jordan River and they're looking over the Jordan River, looking at the promised land and now that the 40 years is over, god stops them for two months and God repeats his love and he repeats his law to them before they enter into Canaan, before they enter into the promised land. And it shows us the importance of God's laws being on repeat in our life. So much of God's word. Old and New Testament reference God's law and we're going to look at both Old Testament and New Testament and what all that the whole Bible has to say about God's law. But the point is this why would God record his laws into his word if he did not want us to know them? See, if you're like me, sometimes we get to these laws in the Old Testament, whether it's Leviticus or Deuteronomy or Exodus or wherever it is, and we tend to skim over them. We tend to rush through them quickly when maybe what we need to do is slow down. Maybe the law is designed to do more in our life than we could even imagine.
Speaker 1:As we see, I've told you each week of this series that it could be that Deuteronomy was Jesus's favorite book of the Bible. Could be the very reason that Satan tempts us not to read it, not to preach it very much. Jesus quoted more from the book of Deuteronomy than any other book of the Old Testament. Jesus used the book of Deuteronomy when Satan tempted him. Jesus used the book of Deuteronomy when the Pharisees asked him what is the greatest commandment, and we will talk about that this morning. I've already told you that the book of Deuteronomy is set up like an ancient peace treaty between two countries, and an ancient peace treaty back then would have these five different sections, and so that's how Deuteronomy is written, and we are on the third section, the middle section, today, chapters 5 through 26. We'll get done by next Sunday, I promise you, and we're going gonna look at the laws of God.
Speaker 1:Okay, we'll look at the laws of God. Here we go, god's laws, we're gonna look at God's laws, putting God's laws on repeat. There are some times that we need to put the most important laws in our life on repeat, such as like when you get on an airplane. You get on an airplane, you fly a commercial and they tell you the same rules. They tell you the same laws every single time. They tell you what to do with the oxygen mask when it comes down, tells you put yours on first before you put anybody else's on. They tell you that your cushion is a flotation device. They tell you where all the exits are, all throughout the plane. If you're sitting in the exit row, they tell you exactly what to do, why? Because when the plane goes down, everybody's panicking and you gotta hear it over and over and over again.
Speaker 1:Well, the same thing in life. We need to hear God's laws, god's commands, over and over and over again, because life is constantly coming at you, Life is chaotic and life is random, and you've gotta be ready in order to live for God at any single point. And so I wanna answer three questions on God's laws for us this morning. Number one where did God's law come from? Number two what is God's law? And number three how do I live God's law? Let's jump in. Here we go.
Speaker 1:Question number one where did God's law even come from? Well, it says Deuteronomy, chapter five, verses one and two. It says and Moses summoned all Israel and said to them hear, hear, o Israel, the statutes and the rules that I speak in your hearing today, and you shall learn them. So he calls us to learn these statutes, to learn the law, and he says and I want you to be careful, so we need to carefully do the law, carefully live the law. The Lord, our God, has made a covenant with us in Horeb. In other words, here's what he's saying.
Speaker 1:Where did God's law come from? God's law came from God, and here's what I mean by that, because I think it's so incredibly important. God's law came from God, meaning that when God rescued his people out of slavery, egyptian slavery they were in slavery for some 430 years. God rescued them, he saved them, he sacrificed, they sacrificed the Passover lamb, they put the blood over the doorpost. God brought them out, led them by his own spirit, by a pillar of cloud and a pillar of fire, and he was leading them through the desert. And in some, just three months, into the desert, he leads them into Mount Sinai. And Mount Sinai is where God came down like a volcano, like a pillar of fire, and through that, god gave them his laws.
Speaker 1:And what is God doing. God is saying I love you, I saved you, I rescued you. See, god's love always comes before God's law. God's love came into your life before God's law came into your life. God saves you before he expects you, before he requests that you obey. God doesn't save you out of your obedience we'll get to but God saves you through the obedience of Jesus.
Speaker 1:And so God's love for you is not based on God's law. God's love for you is based on God's nature, on God's character, on who he is. He says I am the Lord, your God. I'm the one who brought you out of the land of Egypt. I'm the one who brought you out of the house of slavery. For you, god is saying I'm the one who brought you out of the land of Egypt. I'm the one who brought you out of the house of slavery. For you, god is saying I am the Lord, your God. For you, god is saying there is no one else who loves you like I love you. There is no one else who gives you life like I give you life. There is no one else who has saved you like I've saved you. There's no one else who has rescued you like I've rescued you out of the slavery of sin. God is saying there is no one else in your life like me.
Speaker 1:And God goes on to say in Deuteronomy 7, 7, he says it was not because you were more in number. He tells Israel than any other people that the Lord has set his love on you. It's not because that's not why he chose you, because you were actually the fewest of all people, god says. But it were actually the fewest of all people, god says. But it is because the Lord loves you and he is keeping that oath that he swore to your fathers, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeems you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt. In other words, if you ever ask yourself, why is it that God loves me, can I tell you why God loves you?
Speaker 1:He told Israel I didn't love you because of who you were. I didn't love you because of the country that you were. I didn't love you because of the power that you had. He said, in fact, you were the smallest of all countries, you were the weakest, you were the most powerless of all countries. In other words, god is saying Israel you had nothing to offer me. I had everything to offer you.
Speaker 1:And that's what God is telling me, and that's what God is telling you. In other words, god doesn't love you because of what you've done for him. God doesn't love you because of the way that you have obeyed. God doesn't love you because of what you can do for him. God doesn't love you because you've performed or earned his love. God just loves you, not for him. God doesn't love you because you've performed or earned his love. God just loves you, not for you. God loves you because of who he is, because God himself is love. Can I get an amen? He just loves you because he loves you, which means that he doesn't love you anymore if you obey him. He doesn't love you any less if you disobey him. He has an unconditional agape love. He just loves you because he loves you and, by the way, that's the way in which that we should love one another with a godly type love.
Speaker 1:We should not love one another because of what they do for us. We should not love one another because of the way they love us, because the way that they maybe obey you. You shouldn't love your spouse whether or not they do this or that. You shouldn't love your kids because they do this or that. You shouldn't love them more or love them less. We should love others unconditionally, in the way that we receive the love of God unconditionally. He just loves you because he loves you of God unconditionally. He just loves you because he loves you, so you can just cast off the burden of saying God, I'm not good enough. Why? Because it's true, because I'm not good enough and because you're not good enough and God doesn't love you because of your goodness. He loves you because of his goodness. If you believe that, say amen. He loves you because of his goodness. If you believe that, say amen.
Speaker 1:See, my wife gave me the honor of being able to write our wedding vows when we got married some 10 years ago. And I just remember thinking and praying and writing over these vows and I'll just be honest with you. I didn't sit down and be like okay, man, I'm gonna write down these vows and I'm gonna write them in a perfect way to trap her into a loveless relationship, right into where she's going to have to do everything that I want her to do so that then she can see that, well, I love her. If she does all these things and she has all of these conditions, and if she performs the right way, then I'm going to love her. And no, that's not the way that I wrote her vows to me or my vows to her.
Speaker 1:The way I wanted to write these vows was that God would give us, empower us with a loving, romantic, exciting, enjoyable relationship. And that's why God gave you his laws. He didn't give you his laws, his rules, his statutes, his commands because he's mad at you or to hold you back or to hold you down. No, god gave you his ways because God loves us and his ways are best for us. Where does God's love comes from God's love? God's law excuse me, god's law comes from his love. Everybody say love. That's the way in which that God always work. God loves us just because he loves us. Question number two is then what is God's law? If it came from his love, then what is the law that I need to understand, the law that I need to obey? Check this out. This is crazy.
Speaker 1:Deuteronomy, chapter 6, verses 4 through 6, says Hear O Israel, the Lord, our God, the Lord. So he is our God. The Lord is one. So, in other words, there's only one God, and the one God is the Lord, and he's the one that we serve. He's the one that we worship. All these other religions, all these other false gods, fake gods, they are phonies. Right, god is saying there's only one. He's Father, he's Son, he's Holy Spirit. He is the only one true God. And so he says, because he is one, he is our God. He says, therefore, I say that you shall love. You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your might, and these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. In other words, here's what God is saying. What is God's law? Before we even get into God's law, we have to first understand what is the theme, what is behind God's law. And here's what is behind God's law is God is just saying I love you and what I'm desiring from you is just simply your love in return. God is just saying I love you and I'm just calling you and I'm inviting you to love me because I love you.
Speaker 1:Jesus came on the scene thousands of years later, after that was written in Deuteronomy, and Jesus references back to it because it's so important. It says one of the scribes in Mark 12, one of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another and seeing that he answered them, that Jesus of the scribes came up and heard them disputing with one another and seeing that he answered them, that Jesus answered the scribes well. So the scribes said well, if you got all the answers, then Jesus, why don't you just tell us which is the greatest, which is the commandment that is the most important of all? Now, remember, we often talk about 10 commandments, but there were actually 613 laws in the Old Testament that the Jews understood in order to obey God. So he said out of these 613, which is the most important? And you would think that Jesus would say do not murder. You would think that Jesus would say do not lie, do not commit adultery, that he would go after one of the big ones. But Jesus answered and he said the most important is this, and he takes them back to Deuteronomy 6, 5 and 6. Here, oh, israel, the Lord, our God, the Lord is one, and you shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind and with all your strength. And the second is this you shall love your neighbor as yourself. There's no other commandment greater than these. In other words, god is not a legalist. God is a loving God. There is something that is so important for your life that when you get into God's word you have to put on these lenses of love to see that God is doing absolutely everything out of his love for you and out of his love for others.
Speaker 1:Even when it comes down to the 10 commandments, we see this, the 10 commandments, in chapter five of Deuteronomy. In chapter five, the first four actually refer when Jesus said love God and love your neighbor. The first four is about loving God. The last six is about loving your neighbor. You shall have no other gods before me. That is saying God is saying love me first and most over everything else. Why? Because God is that which is most lovable over everything else.
Speaker 1:Number two you shall not make for yourself to carve image. In other words, he's saying don't worship idols, worship me, love me, don't fall for other gods, don't fall for their tricks, don't fall for their lies, don't fall for their ways. Number three he says you shall not take the name of the Lord, your God, in vain. In other words, we love God so that we love the name of God. We don't use the name of God as a cuss word. We don't use the name of God as an exclamation point, right, we use the name of God in worship, in prayer.
Speaker 1:In praise Number four he says observe the Sabbath day. What is the Sabbath day? It's a day of rest. It's a day that we just get to focus on God. It's a day that we don't do our normal work or our labor for our living right. It's a day in which that we get to rest in God with our family, with our loved ones, with our friends. It's a day that we just get to stop and we just get to enjoy and we just get to remember that God is God and that God is the one who ultimately does the work.
Speaker 1:I got convicted the other day because Brooklyn was so excited because we do what's called cheat day, one day a week right, where we get to eat anything, get to eat anything and eat everything. She was so excited about cheat day coming up. Dad, cheat day is coming up this weekend and I was getting excited too and I was reading my Bible and I was reading my Bible about the Sabbath day and it hit me, it convicted me. My little girl knows nothing about the gift that God has given her in the Sabbath day. She just knows something stupid that her dad has given her called cheat day just because I get hungry, knows something stupid that her dad has given her called cheat day just because I get hungry. And so she started talking about cheat day and I said hey, babe, do you know that cheat day is actually on the Sabbath day? She said what's the Sabbath day? And I got to teach my little five-year-old girl about the Sabbath day and that God, he loves us. And so we get to love him in return, just simply by taking a day of rest, not a day of rest from family, not a day of rest from what we need to do at home, but a day of rest from our work, for our living.
Speaker 1:And so the first four loving God. The second six are loving our neighbor, honor your father and your mother, loving our parents you shall not murder. Loving other people, not hating them. Jesus said if you hate, it's like a murder, not committing adultery. Again, jesus said if you lust, it's like committing adultery. In other words, lust is not love, adultery is not love. Cheating on your spouse is not love. You might think you've fallen in love with someone else. You might think that you love someone else, you might think that you don't love your spouse, but Jesus is saying that committing adultery is not real love.
Speaker 1:Number eight you shall not steal. Why? Because stealing is taking something from someone else. It's not love, it's hate. Number nine you shall not bear false witness. What is that Lying? Why? Because when we lie to someone else, then we're loving ourself and we're hating them.
Speaker 1:Number 10, you shall not covet. What is coveting? Saying that I love me more than I love you, and so I'm going to want what you have, and so we treat them differently because of what they have and what we don't have. In other words, we look at the laws of God through the lens of love and that God is not just saying I want you to obey everything that I've told you to obey, because that's the way I've told you to live. So when my wife and I, michelle and I, when we tell our kids to obey and we teach them to obey, why do we teach them to obey? We teach them to obey. Why do we teach them to obey? We want them to obey us because so they can learn to obey God.
Speaker 1:So when Cruz is jumping up and down on the couch yesterday or the day before. He's jumping up and down and we both, cruz, sit down. Cruz would sit down, turn our backs. Boom, he's jumping up and down again. Cruz sit down and he sits down, turn our backs, jumps up and down, falls off the couch, hits his head. He's fine, but why? Why do we tell him to stop jumping on the couch? Not because, cruz, we don't want you to have fun. We live in a boring house here and thou shalt not have any fun in our Christian home. No, cruz, we don't want you to jump on the couch because we love you and we don't want you to get hurt.
Speaker 1:That's why God's laws are there for us. It's not that God is holding you down or holding you back. It's actually that he is lifting you up in his love. It's because that he has more for us. And so the way in which that we live the laws of God, hear me, the way in which that we live them, is because we love him. In other words, if you're like me and you want to love God more, when we read passages like Mark that Jesus said love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, your soul, your mind and your strength, when you read it in Deuteronomy 6,.
Speaker 1:I don't know about you, but I look at that passage and I just tell myself I don't. I'm just gonna be honest with you With all of my heart, with all of my soul, with all of my mind, with all of my strength. I don't and I don't know about you, but I have a desire, a passion to love God more. So the question is how can we love God more? The way in which that we can love God more here's the only way is not by trying harder, it's not by digging deeper. The only way that you and I that we can love God more here's the only way is not by trying harder, it's not by digging deeper. The only way that you and I that we can love God more is by looking at how much God loves us. When we look into the word of God and we see his unconditional love for us, that his love for us is not based on our obedience, that his love for us is not based on our earning his love, that his love for us is not based on our performance, that his love for us is just because he loves us, we can't help it. It's a gospel love that just makes us love him and makes us love others all the more so.
Speaker 1:In closing, number three, then how do we live God's law? How do we live it? How do we live it out? Well, there's three types of Old Testament laws. I need you to understand before we get there. There are the moral laws, the ceremonial laws and the civil laws. The moral laws, for example, are like the Ten Commandments. These are the moral laws that we are all still are called to obey. These are the ways in which that we live God's moral values over our life. But the ceremonial laws, like the sacrifices, we are not still called to obey these Old Testament laws.
Speaker 1:Why no-transcript? Jesus is our sacrifice. Jesus is our Passover lamb. Jesus is the one who has died for his sin. Jesus is the one who has shed his blood. Civil laws this is for national Israel, talking about people and possessions and property. If you live in one country, you are not held accountable to that country's laws. If you live in a different country, we don't live in national Israel. God has given us his moral law.
Speaker 1:And what is so fascinating to me? That Jesus came and Jesus said I didn't abolish the law. Jesus said do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. He said I have not come to abolish them, but I have come to fulfill them. In other words, when Jesus came, he didn't say hey guys, my dad got it all wrong, this whole law thing, this whole sacrifice and animals thing and everything that you had to do. Man, I'm just coming here and I'm just all about love, and so y'all just live however you wanna live, and just believe in me.
Speaker 1:That's not what Jesus is saying. Jesus is saying no, I came. And when I lived on earth, he's saying I fulfilled every single Old Testament law perfectly. I didn't abolish them, I fulfilled them. Why? Because Jesus is saying because you can't, I can't, you can't, and this is God's standard for salvation, according to his holiness.
Speaker 1:And so Jesus came and he lived the law at every single point for you, for your life, because you can't, because I won't, because of our sin. And so he came and he fulfilled the law for us, so that when God looks at you, he doesn't see your sin, he doesn't see you as a lawbreaker, he sees his son, he sees you as a law keeper. How does he do that? Well, philippians, chapter three, verse nine, says and be found in him Be found in Jesus. The most important question for your life are you found in Jesus Christ? When God looks at you, does he see his son, does he see Jesus? And that doesn't mean that you're living because you're living your life just like Jesus.
Speaker 1:That's not what he's saying. He says be found in Jesus because you don't have a righteousness of your own. That comes from the law. If we were saved by our own righteousness, then we would have to obey the law at every single point. But he's saying don't have a righteousness of your own that's impossible, he says but have a righteousness that is through faith in Christ. That is the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. Notice, he says it twice. He says faith twice, which means that our salvation is not from our obedience. God's love is not because of your obedience. It means that you understand, like I do, that we're a sinner and that Jesus is the only Savior. And when we put our faith in him, simply believing that he has died, that he has shed his blood, that he has resurrected from the dead, when we place our faith in Jesus as the very Lord of our life, then God takes the perfect righteousness in Jesus that we could never earn, and he places it into you and you get to live out the righteousness of God. He goes on to say how do we do that? In Hebrews 8, 10, he says here's how you do it. He says when you get saved, I give you the Holy Spirit, and when I put my spirit in you, he says here's how you do it. He says when you get saved, I give you the Holy Spirit, and when I put my spirit in you, he says, then I will put my laws into your minds and I will write them on your hearts and I will be their God and they shall be my people. In other words. In other words, when you get the Holy Spirit because you believed in Jesus, you desire to obey God. Now you want to. Now it makes sense in your mind, now it's an affection of your heart.
Speaker 1:Not perfectly, you're never gonna obey God perfectly. You're always gonna struggle with sin. You're always gonna mess up. You're always gonna obey God perfectly. You're always gonna struggle with sin. You're always gonna mess up. You're always gonna disobey. But you know you're a believer. If you want to, you wanna obey God because you love God, because he loves you, and you think with your mind, god, I wanna obey you. And you think with your mind, god, I wanna obey you. And you feel with your heart, god, I want to obey you, to which Jesus? Then he connects with that desire and he says so. Here's the deal If you love me, you will obey my commands Again, not in perfection, but in direction. Again, not in perfection, but in direction.
Speaker 1:We don't obey God because we're afraid of him. We obey God because we love him, because he loves us, because he gave us his laws out of his love, and so our obedience to God is our worship of God, but also our obedience to God and this is my last verse it's not just our worship to God. You ever thought about this? Your obedience in the way in which that you live for God is also your witness to the world. Matthew 5, 16,. In the same way, let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works. And it actually said and they, not you and they will give glory to your Father, who is in heaven. In other words, when you let the light of Jesus shine in your life and when people see that in the way that you're obeying God publicly, it says that they will say, wow, they're glorifying God. And let me tell you something and the Holy Spirit starts doing something in them, the same thing that the Holy Spirit started doing in you See, what the Holy Spirit does is he uses our good works, he uses our obedience, even before sinful people, and he starts to stir in their heart a love for God. Like you have a love for God.
Speaker 1:One of the greatest witnesses of your life is your obedience. That you would stand up in a world today that says that truth is wrong and wrong is truth. It says that light is dark and good is evil. And you would stand up in a world today that says I don't care what the world says, I don't care what status quo is, I don't care what makes me popular, I don't care if they think I'm crazy. I don't care if they think I'm crazy. I don't care if they think I'm weird. I don't care what they say about me. I know that God has told me the way to live and I'm going to live my life for God and God is going to use my life so that other people want to live their life for him too. If you believe that, say amen. That's what we believe. Your obedience is your worship and your obedience is your witness. People see the difference in you, no matter if it hurts you, no matter if it brings persecution, no matter if it brings isolation, no matter what it does, when they see that you have a love for God and that you will obey, no matter what. They know your faith is real and they know your God is real.
Speaker 1:Can I ask us all to bow our heads and close our eyes? With every head bowed and every eye closed, just want to encourage you this morning. Maybe that's you, and right now you need to have an honest conversation with the Lord. There's an area of your life that you just need to say God, I need to obey you. I've been disobeying you in this area of my life. I've been following after sin, not following after him.
Speaker 1:Jesus and God, I need your forgiveness and God, I'm asking you that you would forgive me because of my sin. And he will. He's your father, he loves you, and maybe you're here this morning and you've never given your life to Jesus, you've never put your faith in him, he's never made his righteousness your righteousness because you haven't believed in him. And so right here, right now, I want to encourage you to place your faith in Jesus. Maybe you've been putting this off, maybe you've never believed, but in this moment, god is revealing this to you and you just need to say dear Jesus, I believe I need you. I believe that you have died on the cross for my sins. I believe that you have shed your blood to cover over my sins. Jesus, I'm asking you to forgive me of all of my sins my past, my present, my future sins. Jesus, I'm believing that you have risen from the dead, jesus, I'm believing that you are alive and I need you. I'm asking you to be alive in me. I believe that you rose from the dead and, jesus, I call on you to be my Lord, my God, my Savior and Jesus. We believe that. Thank you for being our righteousness, thank you for being our desire for obedience, thank you for loving us no matter what, and, jesus, we love you. We believe all these things, we pray all these things in your name and all God's people said amen.
Speaker 1:Would you put your hands together for anybody that's given their life to Jesus? This morning, we just want to say welcome to the family. We're so thankful that God has spoken to you and, as we believe that God is doing all the work. I want to remind you. You've got a next step card in front of you. If there's anything that God is doing in your life, we wanna encourage you just to indicate that on the card. If it's salvation, if you need to be baptized, if you need to join a group, if you wanna be a part of one of our ministries and serve as God has called you to serve, or you wanna come to our next step lunch, you can lunch. You can select it on the card, you can turn it into our next step station here right after the service.
Speaker 1:But as for now, I want to encourage you to stand up, everybody stand, and we're going to sing one last song of worship to Jesus together, because he is our God, he is our law keeper, he is our sacrifice, he is our life. Let me pray for us. Heavenly Father, we love you and God. We just thank you that you have revealed your love for us, even through your laws, that now we know how to live like you and we know how to live for you and we know how to live with you and God.
Speaker 1:I just pray that, as you've promised, that Jesus would be our righteousness, not a righteousness of our own, but his righteousness. Jesus, I pray that you would continue to put your desires in our hearts so that we desire to obey God in every area of our life. May we worship you with our obedience, May we witness to others because of our obedience. And Jesus, we pray and we worship you right now. In your name, jesus' name, we pray and we worship you right now. In your name, jesus' name, we pray and all God's people said amen.