Open—Steve St. Vincent
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Glorious mansions of.
We say no, go around 10-4 oh, 10-4 oh, 10-4 01000000 oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh.
Drains no problem, I can't go forever.
Blah blah blah, glory of God does the problem.
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I pray that.
My brethren will have some confidence in me this afternoon.
There's a subject that I believe the Lord has laid on my heart that I would like to bring our attention to.
And it ties in with uh.
Scripture.
That her brother Dawn ruled. Read in First Corinthians chapter one.
First Corinthians, chapter one.
And reading in verse nine, God is faithful.
By whom?
You were called unto the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.
I'd like to take a moment and look at the subject of covenants, specifically covenants of blood.
And they have a particular meaning and characteristic in the scripture that I believe that we can learn from and we can profit by.
And so beginning in Gen. or Jeremiah chapter 29.
Jeremiah 29 and verse 11. For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you an expected end. Dear ones, God cannot deal with man unless there is a mechanism by which He can righteously pour out His mercy onto.
His people and a mechanism by which he can righteously judge. And we see this carried out in the types of the blood covenants. I believe Scripture brings before us five blood covenants.
Uh, Abramic.
The church, the new covenant, we have the covenant of birth, the covenant of marriage, and there's a covenant of freedom in Jeremiah 34 where.
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There was divided asunder the sacrifice, and the covenant makers passed between those pieces of the sacrifice and that covenant. There was to set freedom to the slaves of the land, an aspect of a jubilee that the children of Israel had failed to keep.
As we know this that expectation of Jeremiah, that covenant was broken. Those that were set free from their slavery were called back by their masters, and so God, characteristically with Jeremiah, deals with them accordingly.
Covenants for a covenant to exist, there needs to be two parties with which can enter into an agreement. We see contracts around us, contracts of covenants. If we buy a home, there's a contract that we will purchase that home and that we will make payments on that. There is an expected end to that. That home will have certain qualities of standards that meets, uh, expectations to be a safe abode for you to dwell in. And then as the obligation of the one making that covenant, there is the.
Requirement to make payment when that obligation is broken, while there are penalties that come into play, you may lose your home, it may be foreclosed. Well, so it is with covenants that there is the expectation of obligation and responsibility between the parties that make that covenant.
But when we look at this with respect to God and covenants, it is a blessed example of seeing the character and nature of God. God, when he makes a covenant, He is able to carry it out to the fullest extent.
When He makes a covenant, there is nothing that will prevent him from fulfilling his obligation. But to each one of us there is the opportunity that we will fail in meeting God's obligation. Of course, that is what happened under the Mosaic covenant where the Talbots of stone came down from the mountain. And of course the children of Israel said that which God had commanded that we will keep. But what happened? They failed, and so they suffered the consequences of that.
To show this, uh, turn with me to Isaiah chapter 44.
Isaiah 44 and.
Verse 8.
Fear not, neither be afraid. Have I not told thee from that time, and have declared it? You are even my witnesses. Is there a God beside me? Yeah. Is there is no God I know not any. This really takes us back to Hebrews chapter 6, when we see Abraham there, discussed by the writer of Hebrews about the covenant that he had with God, and that God by two immutable witnesses, by swearing he could swear by no greater than himself.
And so we see God. There is no greater than God, and so God is able to.
Uh, carry out and do what he has purposed and then in the 21St verse, remember these, umm.
The 21St verse of Isaiah 44. Remember these, O Jacob and Israel, for thou art my servant. I have formed thee, Thou art my servant, O Israel, Thou shalt not be forgotten of me. I have blotted out as a thick cloud thy transgressions, and as a cloud thy sins. Return unto me, for I have redeemed thee. Sing, O heavens, for the Lord hath done it. Shout ye lower parts of the earth break forth into singing. Ye want mountains, O forest, and every tree therein. For the Lord hath redeemed Jacob, and glorified himself in Israel.
Thus saith the Lord thy Redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb, I am the Lord.
That maketh all things, that stretches forth the heavens alone, and that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself. And so here we see the the Lord as the as the king and the dominion of all that is created. And we see associated with his creative, his creation aspect, his character of salvation as well. That is that he as he has formed the heavens and the earth, he also has redeemed Jacob. And so it is with us that God.
As the character of, of the ability and the, uh, the strength to redeem us just as we redeemed Isaac and Jacob and then another character of God that we see that is borne out in covenant in Isaiah 48.
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And verse 3.
We see it in the prophetic aspect of of Christ and how the Spirit of prophecy is Christ.
Isaiah 48 and verse three. I have declared the former things from the beginning and they went forth out of my mouth. I showed them, I did them. Suddenly they came to pass. This is an awesome thing to think that.
We are on the verge of seeing.
This earth move into a new prophetic age of where God will carry forth these things that He has promised and prophesied from old. There is nothing that is going to restrain God from carrying out these prophetic aspects, and So what a wonderful thing it is to know that too our salvation, our Redeemer, as He will carry forth His prophetic word, He also sustains.
And keeps us by His power. It is the avenue for God to show mercy. Turn with me to Deuteronomy in Chapter 7.
Deuteronomy 7 and verse 9.
Know, therefore, that the Lord thy God, He is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy. It is fascinating as we.
Look at Scripture and we look at the term covenant. We find often times associated with covenant mercy. And so God in his aspect of covenant nature, He has the covenant with us so that the avenue of mercy can come forward. Without mercy or without the covenant. God cannot bring forth His mercy and we see this in the New Testament.
Uh, in Ephesians I think chapter 2. Just quoting it here about umm.
That we were without the Commonwealth of Israel as Gentiles, we did not have access to that stream of mercy that God had with his covenanted people. And so we were outside the realm or the stream of mercy from God. King Solomon, who he dedicated the temple, he called forth, thou art a God of mercy and covenant. And So what a wonderful thing it is that again in the character of God we see mercy is able to come forth through.
That of of of the covenant. Then turn with me to Psalm chapter 89.
It's a beautiful song. We sing many prophetic things about the Lord Jesus Christ and his and His person, His character and suffering on the cross of Calvary.
So I'm 89 at verse 20.
Verse 28 My mercy will I keep for him forevermore, and my covenant shall stand fast with him.
In verse 34, my covenant will I not break nor alter the thing that has gone out of my lips?
There's another aspect of this about a covenant that when it is broken, you see this in the 31St verse, if they break my statutes and keep not my commandments, then I will visit their transgression with the rod and their iniquity with stripes. What is fascinating about this, uh, portion in Psalms is it doesn't necessarily couple this, this punishment with the people of Israel, but it certainly came upon the Lord Jesus Christ.
As he had to bear the punishment for our iniquities.
Now I'd like to look at specifically the Abrahamic covenant in Genesis chapter 15.
There's a few things that we can learn here.
Reading from verse one after these things, the word of the Lord came on to Abram in a vision, saying, Fear not Abram, I am thy shield and thy exceeding great reward. And Abram said, Lord God, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless? And the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus. And Abram said, Behold to me thou hast given no seed, and lo, one born in my house is mine error. And behold, the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, This shall not be thine heir, but he that shall come forth out of thine own bells shall be thine heir. And he brought him forth and said, Look now toward heaven, and tell the stars that thou be able to number them. And he said unto him, so shall they seed be.
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And he believed in the Lord, and he counted it to him for righteousness.
And he said unto him, I am the Lord that brought thee out of Ur of the Chaldeans, to give this land, to inherit it.
And he said to the Lord, Whereby shall I know that I shall inherit it? And he said unto him, Take me, and heifer a three years old, and a she goat of three years old, and a ram of three years old, and a turtle dove, and a young pigeon. And he took him in all these, and divided them in the midst, and laid each piece against another.
But the birds divided he not. When the fowls came down upon the carcasses, Abram drove them away. And when the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram, and lo, a ***** of great darkness fell upon him. And he said unto Abram, Know of a surety, that thy seed shall be a stranger in a land that is not theirs, and shall serve them, and they shall afflict them 400 years. And also that nation whom they shall serve will I judge, and afterwards shall they come out with great substance.
And thou shalt go to thy fathers in peace, and shall be buried in a good old age. And verse 17 It came to pass, when the sun went down, and it was dark, Behold a smoking furnace and a burning lamp that passed between those people those pieces.
In the same day the Lord made a covenant with Abraham, saying unto saying, unto thy seed, will I give this land from the river Egypt unto the great river, the Euphrates, etcetera. And so we see this really strange passage of, of where Abram queries of the Lord and asked him about his inheritance. But you know, it is really interesting to see that God is a rewarder of those, uh, that diligently seek him. He is a rewarder of faith.
And there's a curious aspect of the Lord's rewarding and, and, uh.
Ezekiel chapter 29 at the end of the end of the chapter there we see this where, uh, the Lord rewards Nebuchadnezzar because he waged war against the king of Tyrus. And so the Lord gives on to, uh, King Nebuchadnezzar, the land of Egypt as a wage for his service. And so the Lord is one who diligently keeps track of that, what we do for him, and He will reward us according to the measure of faith that we have.
Some have.
Appropriately suggested that in this passage, we see that Abraham was perhaps a bit faithless in his, in his, uh, uh, communication with God. But I think there's another aspect that we can learn some beautiful truths about going back to a time and distant past before the creation of time that we can see into the very presence and counsel of God. We know certainly that Abram in many ways is a type of the father.
Eliezer is the type of the Holy Spirit, but I would suggest that in this passage we see that the Lord is the type of the Father. Abram is the type of the son perhaps. And, and uh, Eliezer is that of the Holy Spirit. And so we see the Lord Jesus in the type aspect here asking what is mind inheritance? Now we get to the New Testament. What do we see in Hebrews 12? Yet for the joy that was before him, he endured the cross.
And so the Lord Jesus had a goal and a purpose for him. And we know that all the seed of Abraham, more than the stars of the sky, that we too are the children of Abraham because of that of faith we have been brought into.
That sphere of blessing we see that Abraham goes into a deep sleep that is too indicative of the type of the Lord Jesus Christ going into a deep sleep for us upon that cross of Calvary. And it shows here that a great horror came upon him. What a horror it was for our sins to be laid upon the Lord Jesus Christ as He bore the punishment for them. And I believe that when we see in this too.
The dividing of sunder of the of the calf.
A heifer of three years and verse 9A she goat of three years and a ram of three years. And as we see, the servant nature of Christ perhaps associated with that of the heifer and the she goat, that of uh.
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That of the substitution, the substitutionary nature of the Lord Jesus Christ sacrifice for us upon that cross of Calvary, and in the Ram we see that perhaps of submission and devotedness to His Father.
And so they were divided asunder. They were all three years of age, perhaps bringing to mind too, the length of the Lord's ministry.
But we see too that there was a turtle dove and a pigeon.
And I think that if we, uh, look at the type of the turtle dove, it and the pigeon, they're heavenly animals. They're that which speaks to that belonging to God. And so it was not divided. And perhaps the turtles speaks to us of that, of the Holy Spirit. And, uh, and the pigeon, the pigeon was that common animal that anyone could offer, would have the ability to offer a burnt offering unto the Lord. And so salvation perhaps is available to all in this type here.
And so we see that in this covenant that God has made now this, this promise to Abram that he will give him this land. But you know, when we look around us and we look at the world and the things that, uh, the political nature of the world that is about around us, what do we see? We see that the world is at, is at enmity against this promise. The whole nature of the global politic. It really is and, and challenge to this promise that God had made Abram.
And it is not something that is trivial or lightly, lightly discussed. Just a little over a year ago as we were traveling up to this conference here, we drove through Oklahoma City and up on Interstate 35 and as we looked out.
To our door left there was the city of Oklahoma. We saw these huge building clouds that were building over that city and lo and behold, it was that very storm system that developed into the most massive tornado swarm that has occurred in this country.
Well, what does that have to do? This Abrahamic covenant? Well, it was that very day.
Within a 24 hour period before the President of the United States and his cabinet had made an official policy to recognize Palestine as a nation and as a nation that was continuous from Gaza up to Eastern Jerusalem. It would have completely cut Israel off as a nation and would have driven the country back to its pre 1967 borders. Dear ones, God is not mocked. He is this promise.
To Abraham.
Is real God?
Does not tolerate.
Those that would despise his covenant with Abram and just as a coincidence, those that have looked at natural disasters in this country from Hurricane Katrina and others that typically within a 72 hour period of the government making a stand against against Israel, there is typically a major natural disaster. It is not without coincidence.
And then we look prophetically. What is happening going to happen in the future?
We look at all the nations that are around Israel. There is it is that there to destroy that land, to wipe Israel off from being a nation.
And and I in Psalm 83 we see that the nations conspire together.
We read in Deuteronomy 7 going back there, uh, just as.
We see that God will repay to the face in Deuteronomy 79. This is not something that God.
Takes too kindly those that would break his covenants.
It is ironic just So before we move on to the next aspect here in the about the church, looking at the nations that surround Israel, they're all Muslim and Islam, We see really the perfect heretical religion against Christianity. Everything that we as Christians hold wholly and sacred are those values that the Muslims despise, what we hold as Christ.
Come in the flesh, they deny. They deny that Jesus Christ died on the cross of Calvary. They deny that God begets. And so we look at first.
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John chapter 51 he that loveth just turn to it briefly.
Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God and everyone that loveth him.
That begat.
Loveth Him also, that is begotten of Him. When they talk, I even hate to use the name of their God, because it is blasphemous in its own nature. It is a blasphemous creed in and of itself, because they deny that God begets. And so as such they deny the Son, they deny the Holy Spirit, they deny His redemptive power. It is quite interesting that if you look at what they claim of their own and of who their God is, He claims that He is the God even of the demons.
The God of everything that is abhorrent and nasty. The God of deceit. What a contrast to the God that we have.
And so I'd like to now take it the subject of quickly of the Church turn with me to Genesis chapter 2.
Genesis chapter 2 and verse 21 of the Lord God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam.
And he slept, and he took one of his ribs, and closed up the flesh of their oven stead, and the rib at which the Lord God had taken from man made he a woman, and brought her unto him. What a wonderful thing to see here back.
In the very earliest part of scripture we see the prophetic type of Christ in the church. I am sure that.
God designed it so that when Adam went into the sleep, we see Adam being again the type of Christ going into death for us and coming out from his side, his bride, his church. This speaks to us, of course, of the bride of Christ.
But as we look at Adam, I'm sure God could have created Eve from the ground just as out of what's creative. But would Adam have had the same heart and affection toward Eve? I doubt not. And I'm, I'm sure that Adam bore that score in his side to remind him of what his bride cost and what, where, uh, she came from that he would be knit towards his wife in that way. And so it is with Christ.
Ephesians chapter 5.
Ephesians chapter 5 and verse 25. Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church and gave himself for it, that he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water.
By the word and so here we see in the type in atom, uh, the church born out of.
Out of umm, or Eve born out of Adam's sight. It was not a blend, a bloodless thing, but it was blood was shed there. And so as we see in Hebrews, uh, chapter 12, we see clearly that the church too is under a new covenant. Now when we looked back in the Old Testament, we see the covenants there. There was an obligation between both parties. But under this new covenant, you might say that there are two aspects of the new covenant, that which.
Is assigned to Israel by grace in the coming millennial day when they will enjoy a new covenant that replaces the the umm Mosaic covenant that God made with them. But now there is a new covenant too that we are under. We are under the blessing and perhaps it is maybe characterized as the everlasting covenant. God knew us before the foundation of the world. God's thoughts were towards you and I before the heavens and earth were even created. We were on his thoughts. But what makes this covenant different is.
We have nothing to do to obtain it except by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And So what an, what an awesome position it is that we have as, as this covenanted relationship with Christ. It is a great mystery. And, and in this, uh, what we find where as the bride of Christ, where do we find ourselves? We find ourselves as joint heirs with Christ in Romans chapter 8.
And verse 29.
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For whom He did foreknow, he also did predestinate, to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the first born among many brethren. Moreover, whom he did predestinate them he also called.
And whom he called them, he also justified, and whom he justified them he also glorified. This is incredible to think of what it is as a position we have before the Lord Jesus Christ that we have, uh.
We are now seen by God as being seated in heavenly places. This is not something that we came by our own natural right or inheritance, but that because the Lord Jesus Christ was surety for us and brought us into that blessed inheritance that was His.
And so he breaks us from the bonds of sin.
First or second, Peter two and verse one. It says that we are partakers of the divine nature. Again, incredible thing to think what it is that we've been brought into that the very thoughts of God are the thoughts that he will share with us.
And that we will have that communion one with another. Hebrews 9 speaks about two of a purged conscience. You know, we could not enjoy this position of being glorified if it was not for the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Purging our conscience from sin so that we can come, without any hesitation or restraint, into the very holy presence of God Himself.
And that is our place in this in in glory in the future day. And then we see too that we are indwelt by the Holy Spirit, which enables us to carry forward the works of the Holy Spirit.
I have a number of friends on Facebook that are tied up into.
Uh, covenant or not covenant, but I would say picking up the old things that the Messianic Christianity, if there can be called such a thing, and they're trying to go back into the Torah and keep the Torah and these things. On the one hand, there is almost a sympathy towards them because in that they're starting to see a little bit of what the Passover meant in terms of the sacrificial death of the Lord Jesus Christ and the lamb and the type there or the, some of these things. And so we can appreciate why they may be going into these things. But you know, the, the law only takes us to a certain point.
But the Lord has called us to be filled with the Holy Spirit, which takes us way beyond.
To something that can never have been done under the without the power of the Holy Spirit. And so we do have that blessed hope and 1St Thessalonians 4 of the Lord Jesus Christ is soon coming to take us home again to be with Him.
But there is too that aspect of judgment. There are those that who will deny this relationship, this covenant that God seeks to have with us. They deny that the Lord Jesus Christ is their Savior. And so there is a corresponding eternal damnation that is set aside for them. This is not to be trifled with, young people.
That if you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, there is a very real, uh, a very real judgment and separation for God that cannot be denied. And so as to we see in the covenant nature of, of Christ in the church, we see also in type many of these characters brought forth in the covenant type of marriage. Now marriage is the covenant that.
There is the tokens of virginity when the husband and wife come together and so it is a it is too a blood covenant. And as we look at what the marriage stands for, the marriage is the first institution that was established by God. We can go back to Genesis chapter one and verse 28.
Genesis 1 gives us a topical outline of his creation in the order that he has established in his earth, and at the very end of chapter one we see a.
And God bless them. And God said unto them, Be fruitful and multiply.
And replenish the earth and subdue it and have dominion over it. And so we see that there is this this responsibility as a husband and wife to be that which is.
That institution that that really subdues the earth, it is that institution that righteousness is passed from one generation to the next.
And it is too that universal symbol of humanity that speaks of Christ in his church. Isn't it interesting to know that the that no matter what culture you go in, that there is an institution of marriage? This is something that really speaks to us of, of the.
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Umm of the created order as being a witness of God. We certainly look at the created things and and the invisible things that speak of God, but here too in this institution of marriage, the fact that it is a universal human experience.
Speaks to of its source from God and as an institution.
As an institution, it is, it is the, uh, the source of really of, of earthly blessing in our own in, in our own nature. It is the light of Christianity that has.
Really recovered and brought what we know today in our western world as a cup, as a relationship between a man and a woman. But isn't it strange too? I guess it's not strange when we when we consider what Satan would do to this institution. He would try to destroy it. And so we see on every hand around us the.
The, the, uh, the culture and those that would communicate to the culture through advertising and media that are trying to break down what this institution is to say that is something other than what God has established. And so this brings us to the obvious point about our role.
As being gathered to the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and how we respond to this institution of marriage.
It is something that is transcendent really from that of civil authority. True, it is man. It's as a covenant. It is a contractual relationship between husband and wife and there are legal issues associated with that. But to it also as as the testimony of Christ in his church, there is that which is appropriate in how we as the assembly, umm, respond to this. And so I'd like to take our time attention real quickly to market chapter 10.
Satan in his effort to diminish and under.
Mine this institution.
From the very beginning, we see Lamech, he had two wives, and we see that divorce became something that God or that Moses instituted.
Uh, from the hardness of their hearts. Mark chapter 10.
And beginning at verse 3.
And he answered and said unto them, What did Moses command you? And they said, Moses suffered to write a bill of divorcement.
And to put her away. And Jesus answered and said unto them, For the hardness of your heart, he wrote you this precept. But from the beginning of the creation, God made them male and female for this cause.
Shall a man leave his father and mother, and cleave to his wife? The twain shall be one flesh. So then that they are no more twain, but one flesh. Wherefore what God hath joined together, let no man put asunder.
As we consider this, there are certainly those that would like to suggest that there are other.
Uh, grounds for divorcement, But what does the Lord Himself say but for the cause of adultery?
As we consider this, the Lord speaking.
It was the Lord Himself who put his finger in Adam's side. It was the Lord Himself that took that rib and forbid Eve. And it was the Lord Himself who created that union between Adam and Eve, and they too became one. And so as the Lord speak spoke here, he naturally spoke as His divine authority. Of course, we know that all Scripture is given by inspiration. The Holy Prophet says they were moved by the Holy Spirit. But I would say that here this is.
Perhaps certainly not any more weight of authority of God, but it is the Lord thought him Crea, the Creator, the one who have the purpose in the design that is speaking here and instructing his disciples. Some have suggested that we go back and look at Deuteronomy chapter 24 that there if a woman is found to be unclean in her husband's eyes that she'd be she could be put away. But really if we consider what the force of that Scripture is saying is that because the hardness of your heart and.
The and the giving of divorcement you have caused adultery to pro to profligate through the land of their inheritance. This is something that God did not want, he did not desire and so as a testimony those gathered to the Lord's name. How is it that we view this institution? How is it that we.
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Respond to when we see trials and difficulties with dear ones in our midst that are facing these challenges.
And then finally, in closing, I'd like to turn to second Timothy.
Chapter 2 and verse 19.
Nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure. Having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are his. Let everyone that nameeth the name of Christ depart from iniquity. But in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth, and some to honor, and some to dishonor. If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel.
On to honor sanctified and meet for the Master's use and prepared for every good work.
We also use full lust, but follow righteousness, faith, charity, peace with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. And So what? So what a wonderful blessing it is that we can.
Have fellowship with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart maybe. May that be our our exercise and and desire that we would be so responsive.
I can say I also have something on my heart. And as I was wondering whether I had the Lord's mind, I asked the Lord if he'd just give me a Segway. He'd give give a little bit of introduce, introduction to the thoughts that have been on my heart. They're not going to be exactly the same, but they do have to do with a covenant. You have to do with the Mosaic covenant.
The law and our relationship to it.
And, uh, I've noticed that, you know, I've, I've enjoyed 1 certain book maybe more than others and that's probably an indication that I'm a little imbalanced, but I've enjoyed the book of Romans so much. And in the book of Romans, we have a chapter that helps us to get free.
From.
The ******* of the law.
And.
I, as I introduce my thoughts, I also kind of like to introduce my dog. Uh, my dog is, is a dog about this size. His name is Nikki and she's a Rhodes, Rhodesian Ridgeback. And they used them some place to, uh, to fight to, uh, hunt lions. And one thing that's characteristic of our dog is that when she gets into a place where.
She has threatened the hair stands up on the back of her neck and there's a Ridge of hair straight up, and you know that she's worried or she's upset. And you know what? When we deal with the truth of God, we don't want to deal with it that way, to present it in such a way that it makes the hair stand up on the back of our brethren's neck. And so I have often found that when we bring up the subject of the law.
That there's a tendency for the hair to raise up on the back of our necks. Well, let me just help to put the hair back down.
Flat.
If you have a difficulty with legality.
You are no different than anyone else.
Because by nature we are illegal being.
By nature we will find ourselves under the precepts of law. By nature we will say, all that God says unto us we will do. That is our nature.
And as Christians.
We find that it's a little difficult sometimes to get out from underneath that tendency of thinking that my righteousness is going to be presented to God through my own efforts.
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And that was what the law was for. God made a covenant with Abraham, uh, with, with Moses. And he said, OK, if you say all that that I say you will do and I will give you a description, I will give you a standard by which you can, you can live your life and it will produce righteousness.
Well, I like the comment that.
Brother.
Stan Jacobson made I think he's asleep.
He, I'm a good friend of Stan's and he won't mind if I, if I, uh, I like that. I thought that his statement about the law was very helpful in his meeting. He said his, his experience. He, he had never had the experience really of the depth of the searching in Romans seven that is presented there.
And I would just like to.
To give you a thought that came to me all of about last night and I'm certainly open for correction.
But some have said that they didn't think that was the Apostle Paul's experience.
That it was, I don't know the experience of well, and I won't go into that to what it might be, but I I just want to.
Give you something to think about. The Apostle Paul knew the law.
Better than anyone else, the Apostle Paul felt the effects of the law more than you and I do.
And Romans 7.
I've enjoyed the thought that Romans 7 is the experience of someone who is under the power of the law.
I'm thankful Romans 7 also gives total and complete deliverance from the power of the law as well.
The one who goes through the experience of Romans 7.
Doesn't get deliverance until the end.
When they realize.
My deliverance is in someone else.
I can say from personal experience I know what Romans 7 experience is.
And I'm thankful that God chose.
To not only bring me through that chapter.
Bring me into that chapter. Allow me to suffer to a certain degree under the influence of the law.
So that to a certain degree he could show me deliverance from law.
Let's turn to Romans 7.
I'm just gonna read a verse. We don't have much time.
Verse 4.
Wherefore, my brethren, ye also are become dead to the law by the body of Christ.
That you should be married to another, even to him who is raised from the dead.
To me, that has been the key verse for Deliverance.
From the law.
Deliverance is found in no other place than realizing my position to it before God is that I'm dead to it.
If we had time, we could go into Romans 8 and we could find that the law hasn't really been abandoned.
That's what the Spirit of God is for in your life and mine.
To produce the righteousness of the law. That's what's characteristic of one who is in Christ.
He has the He has the Spirit of God.
Who, who, who pres? Who presents the things of of God working in the new nature?
00:50:07
It's a completely new being. It's a completely new.
Preacher. But Romans 7 is still someone who is under this agreement with God.
That.
And they're saying, basically all that thou sayest unto us, we will do. Now I want to go back to our brother, our brother's comment about not having experienced the experience of Romans 7.
There are two sides there are two effects that the law has on the natural on on let's just call him Adam. There are two effects if Adam is as it were. If there is a conflict between the old and new nature, you will get the response that we get in Romans 7. The activity of the spirit of God producing the effects of life will cause a.
Conflict with.
The demands the law is placing upon us, but there is not the ability to do what the law is telling us is righteous.
But there's another effect that the law has upon us.
And this is the effect that I have also experienced in my own personal Christian life.
And that is that we, when we are under the law, which I think that we can all say at some point in time, we've been there.
That.
We have taken taken the law and made it a rule by which we pattern our life after.
We have decided that.
That we wanna, we wanna be obedient to the word of God, we want to please him. And so we we go into his word and, and we, we begin to create a.
A set of rules to live by.
And in this aspect of things, if we do a pretty good job at it.
It leads.
To pride.
I like to.
That it is.
I think some brothers have made this pretty clear. I like to think it's called spiritual pride.
But spiritual pride is an oxymoron. There is no such thing. The Spirit of God doesn't produce pride.
That's a that's a product of the flesh.
But when we take up the law in any manner, whether it's to condemn us or whether it's to lift us up in pride.
We're going to find that it leads to sad, sad results.
What is the?
What is the? What is the answer?
Our death.
We are not taking up God's blessing.
In relationship to the first man to Adam.
We are not going about our Christian life seeking to be everything that God has told us to be.
In The First Man.
We have to see that the 1St man, Adam.
Is done.
We have to see another man.
Christ, who is our life.
And so.
If we.
Allow the Spirit of God.
To teach us these things.
It will produce.
Life.
And piece.
I'd just like to.
I would just like to to to speak about what scripture indicates that the working of that the working of the law produces.
00:55:06
Galatians is not a very pleasant book.
Because Galatians is dealing with believers who are under the dominion of those who taught the principle of law.
And if.
If there's a place that I probably wouldn't have ever wanted to have been.
It would have been in the churches of Galatia.
Because the the law doesn't produce life and peace.
Let me tell you what the law produces.
The law produces strife.
And division. I'd like to just be able to explain that in a little measure.
If I, as a believer, am under the influence of law, I'm occupied with myself.
I'm seeking to be a Christian that God would want me to be.
By my own efforts.
And I'm seeking to maintain his standard of righteousness.
And in order to maintain the standard of righteousness around me.
I must, must not only enact the principles of law upon myself.
That I must enact them upon others.
And the result of that.
Is strife.
Just speaking from my own experience.
There was a time that I looked back in my Christian life.
When I tried the hardest.
And I did the most damage.
I tried the hardest.
And I did the most damage.
Because it was under the principle of law that I was seeking.
To not only.
Present a righteous walk before God.
That I was seeking to bring others under the same.
Dominion.
Well, time's up.