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Under Law or Under Grace?
Understanding Romans 6 & 7
Fred R. Coulter—October 9, 2021
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Greetings, everyone! Welcome to Sabbath services!
Today we're going to talk about the grace of God in the Bible, mainly the New Testament. Before we get started I want to mention four important studies that we have:
- Grace of God
- God's Grace and Commandment-Keeping
- Grace Upon Grace
- Love of God
Booklet: Grace of God in the Bible
If you're brand new or in another Church of God, and you rarely hear about the grace of God, you need to get both the In-Depth Study—Grace of God—and the booklet Grace of God in the Bible.
The In-Depth Studies come with CDs; they are transcript books; this way you will really learn.
We're faced with all the Protestantism that says that everything is by grace and faith and you don't have to do anything. Those are the ones we will see in just a minute, who are turning the grace of God into licentiousness.
The last one is the most important for growing and grace and knowledge, Grace Upon Grace! What does that mean?
The other series that you need is The Love of God, because the love of God and the grace of God go together. That's the most important thing that you need. Through the grace of God and the love of God, with the Spirit of God in the times of all these stressful things going on, you will be able to not get discouraged and taken down.
Don't believe the Protestants!Some of the Churches of God do not understand the love of God or the grace of God. They all came from the Worldwide Church of God, and they all follow Herbert Armstrong.
You heard me say that those who follow Herbert Armstrong and nothing else they're making an idol and god out of Herbert Armstrong. He never 'restored all things.' He never understood about grace and never understood about love.
How can you preach the Truth of the Gospel without understanding about love and grace? Many of the off-shoots of Worldwide after it collapsed… And why did it collapse? Because of sin and the lack of knowledge! If you idolize Herbert Armstrong and say you won't preach anything other than what Armstrong did, and if he didn't say it, 'we won't preach it.' You need to stop and think! Herbert Armstrong is not God!
God is God and His Word is true! There's even one man who is running a church who is afraid to really preach love because he thought that it showed weakness! That's the opposite! Love shows strength, not weakness!
All of this in the book of Jude started coming even before the death of all the apostles and Jesus warned that there would be false apostles, there would be those who would be teaching wrong doctrines. Notice how Jude writes:
Jude 3: "Beloved, when personally exerting all my diligence…
Think about that! He's writing with all of his diligence, all that is in him, is poured out into this small, little epistle.
"…to write to you concerning the common salvation, I was compelled to write to you, exhorting you to ferventlyfight for the faith, which once for all time has been delivered to the saints."
This is late on! This is probably written at the time that everything except Revelation was given. What we need for salvation is all in the Bible. We just have to understand it correctly.
As we have pointed out many, many times, for those of you who are new, remember that keeping the Sabbath Day—keeping it Holy—is the first key and the first step to understanding the Bible. That's important! It might not seem so, but men do don't have the authority or the ability to take a commandments of God—like the Sabbath command—and say sanctimoniously with arrogance: 'We have transferred everything of the Sabbath to the first day of the week.'
That is a big lie! It cannot be! Jesus never said it! Remember that He said that He 'was Lord of the Sabbath Day.' If He's Lord of the Sabbath Day, what did day did Jesus keep? The Sabbath!
There was an evangelist on a cruise going over to the Holy Land and they would go to all these different places. Nearly every one of them on there were all Sunday-keepers, but he was a Sabbath-keeper. So, they were kind of noticing that he wasn't coming to their Sunday services on the cruise ship. One of them asked him what day he kept. He said, 'I keep the same day as Jesus. What day do you keep?'
Verse 4: "For certain men have stealthily crept in…"
We saw in the demise of Worldwide Church of God that it was completely infiltrated with traitors who crept in.
"…those who long ago have been written about, condemning them to thisjudgment. They are ungodly men… [here's what they do]: …who are perverting the grace of our God, turning it… [the grace of God] …into licentiousness, and are personally denying the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ" (v 4).
How do they do that? We will see in a little bit! I'm sure that I will need two or three messages to cover this.
Let's see what David wrote concerning God, grace and mercy. This is very important because one of the things they like to say is:
The God of the Old Testament was mean, cruel and evil. Therefore, we don't keep any of the hateful laws that are there. We're a New Testament Church. We have grace and we can do anything we want.
Not true! There is grace in the Old Testament; here's what David wrote:
Psalm 86:15: "But You, O LORD, are a God full of compassion, and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and Truth."
Doesn't that sound like New Testament doctrine in the Old Testament? Guess what? When the Church began with the 12 apostles, the only Scriptures they had were the Old Testament! I'm sure that they used this Psalm many times.
Verse 16: "Oh, turn to me, and have mercy upon me; give Your strength to Your servant and save the son of Your handmaid."
Let's see something really important in Isa. 55, and I'm sure that the apostles used this many, many times when they were teaching and preaching. Let's see how this is New Testament, as well. This is important.
Isaiah 55:6: "Seek the LORD while He may be found…"
That's really true today with what's going to happen. What's going to happen when they shut down all the Internet? You know they will! People, a few years ago, didn't think that they would shutdown Facebook, Twitter and that they would sensor everything that's going out. They're using search engines to scour every website to see who is saying what.
I've got one 'Notebook' that I use occasionally, and every once in a while it doesn't work too well because Microsoft is updating everything. I wonder what they take out. You have Microsoft scouring what you have, updating what you have and have got everything you have.
"…call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way…" (vs 6-7).
Who is wicked? A lot of people think they are good people. In society they may be good because they're fairly honest, but they lie every year to their kids concerning the holidays, don't they? They're liars!
Look at everything else. We're going to find that the whole world is under Law to God! Do you realize that? The whole world! Every single human being all down through time has been under Law to God! That's important to understand.
"…forsake his way…" (v 7)—means anybody who is breaking the commandments of God! There may be degrees of wickedness, depravity and abominations, but sin is sin, and evil is evil!
"…and the unrighteous man his thoughts…" (v 7).
- What are your thoughts?
- What goes through your head?
Conversion is a transformation of the mind and thoughts with God's Spirit. Those who do not have the Spirit of God know nothing about what this means. Notice what else you have to do:
"…and let him return to the LORD, and He will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon" (v 7).
Maybe you've never heard that before, but that is true, God will!
Now, lest you get conceited in your own thoughts….Isn't it true that every person comes to the Bible looking to tell God what to do!Rather than realizing that God rules everything, and coming to God to find out what he or she must do, according to the Word of God. It's entirely different! So, God says:
Verse 8: "'For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor your ways My ways,' says the LORD."
That's how sinful men stealthily crept in, and they've done it in every age down through the history of the Church to bring false doctrines. They bring ideas that sound good. Who is behind all of those good sounding things? Satan the devil! Most people think of Satan as terribly wicked! NO!
- he loves humor
- he loves bringing a benefit
Then you get trapped! Perfect example is those who take drugs! Someone comes along and say, 'Try it, you'll like it!' Brings you a benefit! 'Oh, you'll feel so good.' Little do you know the addictive powers of that!
Look at how many lives are destroyed! Look at what Satan does to your children through Walt Disney and other productions like that! It introduces:
- witchcraft
- satanism
- death
- destruction
same way with
- Netflix
- Hulu
- etc.
Look at those and ask yourself: What are they bringing with these kinds of productions?
Verse 9: "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts."
What God has done is put it in the Bible and this shows the grace of God!
Let's see the very first message that the apostles preached, right from God. Couldn't be anymore direct, because God sent the Holy Spirit that came down like tongues of fire. By the way, speaking in tongues and baptism of fire today is nothing like what happened to the apostles then. That's a false doctrine. Here's what happened after Peter showed them what all of them were responsible for, and it means to all of us, too. This goes down through time. Why? Because the sacrifice of Christ covers, for those who repent, sins past, present and future in your life.
- future when you repent of them
- past when you already hare repented of them
And for all people past, present and future, because in the plan of God there is a resurrection for those who have not committed the unpardonable sin to be raised to physical life so they can have an opportunity for salvation. Think about that! How's that for graciousness? mercy? and kindness?
Acts 2:36: "Therefore, let all the house of Israel know with full assurance that God has made this same Jesus, Whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ."
Every one of our sins are covered by the blood of Jesus Christ. What does that mean? That your life and your sins—and everybody else's down through time—from the beginning of the Church had their part in killing Christ! Maybe you never thought it was that way, but that's the way that it is.
Verse 37: "Now, after hearing this, they were cut to the heart…"
That means they repented! Repentance comes from the heart. It's not like the Catholics do: you go into a little booth and you confess some of your sins to the priest. He is really the one who needs to be examined and not the one going in there. Then the priest says, 'You do 100 hail Marys and 100 our fathers and you're forgiven. That is forgiveness by physical works!
You pray from your heart and pour your heart out to God, and it will bring tears to you when you really understand the very depths of your sin, which the grace of God will forgive and cover. So, "…they were cut to the heart…"!
"…and they said to Peter and the other apostles, 'Men and brethren, what shall we do?'" (v 37).
Maybe some of them there were some of the ones standing out there cheering Pontius Pilate to crucify Him! Think how they must have felt, because they were directly involved in killing Christ.
Verse 38: "Then Peter said to them, 'Repent and be baptized each one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins…"
Forgiveness of sins; remove them from you as far as the east is from the west. Put them under the blood of Jesus Christ.
"… and you yourselves shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit" (v 38). That is an act of grace, and this is a start!
I'm going to read to you from our booklet Grace of God in the Bible, and then we will look at an assumption that the Protestants have that is completely wrong. They have many things that are completely wrong because they have the wrong translation, the wrong interpretation and they do not understand much of the Truth, because they're Sunday-keepers and holiday-keepers.
Remember that sin cuts you off from God, and sin blinds you to your own sins!
From the booklet: Grace of God in the Bible by Fred R. Coulter
Part 2—THE GRACE OF GOD IN THE NEW TESTAMENT
To understand the GRACE of God is to comprehend one of the most wonderful attributes of God; and is the KEY to a deep, personal relationship between God the Father and every Christian, through Jesus Christ.
The GRACE of God expresses the GREATNESS OF HIS LOVE…
because grace and love go together
…and the richness of His mercy! To live within and under the GRACE of God is to experience and appreciate the fantastic LOVE of God and His merciful kindness.
Contrary to religious speculations, grace is not just a theological tenant or topic of argument; drawing denominational battle lines; in fact, the GRACE OF GOD means LIFE ITSELF!….
Think about that! If you're saved from your sins and you have the Holy Spirit of God within you, you have life! It means life itself!
…Without grace there would be no salvation, NO CHRISTIANITY... NO ETERNAL LIFE!….
True!
…Indeed, GRACE IS THE FOUNDATION of true Christianity.
That's why our motto is: restoring original Christianity for today! Why? Because we can find it in the Bible! God will lead if we love Him, serve Him and obey Him. He will give us the understanding that we need. That's the only way we can find our way around in this evil world today.
The New Testament reveals that God the Father's GRACE is an ALL ENCOMPASSING quality. The GRACE of God has tremendous meaning to those who really understand it. Through Jesus Christ, God's gift of GRACE is granted so we may spiritually GROW UP unto Him, Jesus Christ—the SON OF GOD—Who is the HEAD of God's Church, in ALL THINGS.
We're going to see that God the Father Himself… I want you to think on this. Here you are out in world and you're going along in your own life, whatever it is, and all of a sudden you find yourself crashed into difficulties that you don't know how to get out of.
Then you think on God, and God begins to deal with you. We will see how that works, because that's through the grace of God.
In order to understand the true grace of God, we need to understand one Scripture. When you first read Rom. 6:14, you don't understand it. Then when you listen to the Protestants' explanation of it, they give you the wrong meaning of it. They don't understand what it means to be under Law! Nor do they understand what it means under grace!
Romans 6:14: "For sin shall not rule over you…"—meaning to dominate everything that you think! Greek: 'kurieio'—lord it over you!
"…because you are not under Law, but under grace" (v 14).
Protestants say that if you try to keep the commandments of God, you are 'trying to earn your salvation' and you are under Law. LIE!!!So, the first thing we need to answer is: What does under law really actually mean?
(break@30:25)
Rom. 6:14 with the Protestants, "…under Law…" is universally misunderstood. In other words, it's a fake interpretation. Who is under Law?
Romans 6:14: "For sin shall not rule over you because you are not under Law, but under grace."
Here is the Protestant interpretation: If you're under grace, you don't have to keep the Law. Therefore, God is lawless. What they're actually doing is judging God, and they don't understand that. What is under Law, and who is under Law? The answer is right close at hand!
Romans 7:1: "Are you ignorant, brethren (for I am speaking to those who know law) that the Law rules… [or lords it over] …over a man for as long a time as he may live?"
He didn't say just people in the world! Let's see who that includes. Remember: "…the Law rules over a man… [and woman] …for as long a time as he [they] may live?"
How about the law of gravity? It rules under you, so to speak, it keeps you on the earth, keeps everything on the earth. Everything on the earth is subject to the law of gravity. When you get outside the confines of the Earth's magnetic field and you get into space, you float! That's what all the astronauts do, because there's no law of gravity up there.
What happens to them? If they stay up there too long they get a lot of difficult physical problems because the body is made to function in gravity! Keep that in mind; you're made to function according to law!
Stop and think about other laws that you have: All the laws of the functioning of the body. How do they measure them? They measure your:
- height
- weight
- whether you can see or not see
glasses or no glasses
- how many times your heart beats per minute
if it's to many, or too low, you have troubles
- Why? Because it's supposed to run about 70 for the heartbeat and you have to breath!
If you don't breath you break a law and you're dead!
- What is the wages of sin? Death!
Romans 3:10: "Exactly as it is written: 'For there is not a righteous one—not even one!'"
They may be 'up standing' by the world's standards, but they're not righteous according to God.
Verse 11: "There is not one who understands; there is not one who seeks after God." That is a key! What do we have in the world today?
- atheism
- agnosticism
- filled with God haters
And at the present time they're running Washington, D.C.! Look at what they are doing!
Verse 12: "They have all gone out of the way…"—out of the way of God! The true way of God is a way of life!
"…together they have all become depraved…." (v 12).
- Sound like the world?
- Sound like Hollywood?
- Sound like the way that people live?
"…There is not even one who is practicing kindness. No, there is not so much as one! Their throats are like an open grave; with their tongues they have used deceit…" (vs 12-13).
Remember about the carnal mind: The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked; who can know it?
A lot of people would say, 'That's not me! I'm good!' Really? Do you love God and keep His commandments? Oh no! I don't even believe in God! Well, there's not one who is righteous, not so much as one practicing kindness.
Verse 13: "Their throats are like an open grave; with their tongues they have used deceit the venom of asps is under their lips, whose mouths are full of cursing and bitterness" (vs 13-14).
What are we talking about in every one of these things? In every one of these characteristics we're talking about sin! What is sin? The transgression of the Law! But a more accurate translation is: sin is lawlessness!
Verse 15: "Their feet are swift to shed blood; destruction and misery are in their ways" (vs 15-16).
Sound like New York City? Los Angeles? Baltimore? Portland? Seattle?
Verse 17: "And the way of peace they have not known. There is no fear of God before their eyes" (vs 17-18).
Now listen very carefully to the next verse; v 19: "Now then, we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law…"
- Are Christians also subject to the Law? Yes!
- How are they to obey it? In the spirit, not just in the letter!
You need to think on that! Then think about how Protestantism has led people astray saying that if you keep the Law you're under Law. No! You are under Law all of the time, all of your life, whether you live in the world or you're converted!
But if you are converted, then you are under Law through grace, which means that you live by God's Laws! When you live by God's Laws you're free from sin! Think about that! Not free to do anything you like.
Verse 19: "Now then, we know that whatever the Law says, it speaks to those who are under the Law so that every mouth may be stopped…"—the mouth of every human being!
One of the first things that people like to do against God is talk back to Him!
"…and all the world… [everybody on earth, every man, woman and child] …may become guilty before God" (v 19).
Who is under grace?
We'll see how we're called and we'll see all of that; that's all part of grace! When God enters into your life, even at the very beginning, that's the beginning of the grace of God for you IF you respond to God.
Romans 6:1: "What then shall we say? Shall we continue in sin so that grace may abound?"
The Protestant's answer: yes! God says, NO! Paul writes:
Verse 2: "MAY IT NEVER BE!…."—which means don't let this even come into existence as a thought!
"…We who died to sin…" (v 2).
- How do you die to sin? Repentance and baptism (Acts 2)!
- What do you do to people who die physically? You bury them completely!
- What if the graveyards were this: someone dies and you lay it on the ground and they sprinkle a little dirt over it? It all rots and festers, dogs and birds come and eat it!
- When you die physically what happens? They put you in the ground, or burn you up!
If you're in the ground they cover you completely!
"…We who died to sin…" (v 2)—through baptism, and baptism is a ceremonial, meaningful, spiritual death!
Remember what I said about the sacrifice of Christ, everyone had part in it, because His sacrifice forgives sin.
Let's see what baptism really means. If you've been baptized, whatever church, if it's Sunday-keeping you belong to a fake Christianity. They may say nice things, even Satan says nice things. Satan even quoted Scripture to Jesus; remember that? Don't base what you think on because people are just nice. Base it on: Is it the Word of God or not?
"…how shall we live any longer therein?" (v 2).
It's a way of life! When you're in the world, you're living in sin. The tree out there is the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil! So, there's some good, but there's a lot of evil!
Verse 3: "Or are you ignorant that we, as many as were baptized… [by full water emersion] …into Christ Jesus…" That's what it is!
It's not just a ceremony involving you, it is involving you, Jesus Christ and God the Father, all three of you together.
"…were baptized into His death?" (v 3).
Picture it this way: When you're baptized and go under the water, though it's just for a little bit, spiritually speaking it's almost like laying your body on the body of Christ while He was on the cross. That's the whole meaning of it! We baptize in the name of Jesus Christ. There it is right there! Notice how this comes along:
Verse 4: "Therefore, we were buried with Him through the baptism into the death…" Christ's death!
The baptism is you being under water, symbolic of your death spiritually speaking! But since this is a new beginning, we don't keep you under the water, because you would die.
"…so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, in the same way, we also should walk in newness of life" (v 4).
Come up out of the water, our sins are forgiven under the blood of Jesus Christ, you're conjoined into the death of Christ. That's when you start under grace! Right there at that point is when you are under grace. God is dealing with you before you come to that, and it's through His grace and mercy that He does, but you're under grace until you have been baptized and know the meaning of it.
Verse 5: "For if we have been conjoined together in the likeness of His death…"
You've heard of twins that are conjoined. Some of them even share the same heart. Well, God is sharing now—with His Spirit—His life with you! Think about that! He gives the Holy Spirit to you, and He does not give the Holy Spirit to those who do not obey Him.
"…so also shall we be in the likeness of His resurrection. Knowing this, that our old man was co-crucified… [Why? Because of sin!] …with Him in order that the body of sin might be destroyed…" (vs 5-6).
That body of sin is within each one of us. We will see later that Paul calls that the law of sin and death. Everybody has it. Another phrase for it is human nature. Showing "…that the body of sin might be destroyed…" related to growing and overcoming in grace and knowledge.
"…so that we might no longer be enslaved to sin; because the one who has died… [the baptism death] …to sin has been justified from sin" (vs 6-7).
All of your past sins are justified are forgiven, forgotten and removed as far as the east is from the west.
Verse 8: "Now, if we died together with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him… [let's see how we're to live our lives]: …knowing that Christ, having been raised from the dead, dies no more; death no longer has any dominion over Him. For when He died, He died unto sin once for all… [that's why we all have our part in the death of Christ] …but in that He lives, He lives unto God" (vs 8-10).
That's what we are to do when we come out of that baptismal grave; live God's way!
Verse 11: "In the same way also, you should indeed reckon yourselves to be dead to sin…"
If you're dead to sin, that means you're not doing it. Look at it this way, can a corpse sin? No! But you're still alive. You're dead to living in sin. We're going to see that we still have sin to overcome, because of human nature that needs to be transformed.
Verse 12: "Therefore, do not let sin rule in your mortal body by obeying it in the lusts thereof. Likewise, do not yield your members as instruments of unrighteousness to sin; rather, yield yourselves to God as those who are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness to God" (vs 12-13).
Now you see the difference. Once you've been baptized and have the Holy Spirit of God, you can overcome sin through prayer, repentance and study! That's what God wants. That's when He opens the door for you, through His grace.
Verse 14: "For sin shall not rule over you because you are not under Law, but under grace"—so you can overcome sin!
All the world is under Law to God. We are under Law to God spiritually!
Verse 15: "What then? Shall we sin because we are not under law, but under grace? MAY IT NEVER BE!"
In other words, shall we go out and break the commandments of God. Very few of the Protestants understand that every Sunday that they gather together they are breaking the Law and commandments of God; cheering and telling God how they love His grace, and how they hate the Sabbath.
Well, they're missing the whole point, because the Sabbath is the day in which God puts His presence! You will not be in the presence of God on Sunday.
Verse 16: "Don't you realize that to whom you yield yourselves as servants to obey, you are servants of the one you obey, whether it is of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?"
We will come back and look at some other things there in Rom. 6 in just a minute. It's always good to look at the ultimate goal. 1-John 3 tells us the ultimate goal based on the love of God. The grace of God comes from the love of God!Here's the ultimate goal:
1-John 3:1: "Behold!…. [pay attention and listen] …What glorious love the Father has given to us, that we should be called the children of God!…."
That's quite a thing to really comprehend. If you've been baptized and received the Holy Spirit of God you now are a begotten child of God.
"…For this very reason, the world does not know us because it did not know Him. Beloved, now we are the children of God… [not yet born, that takes place at the resurrection] …and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be… [we know a little bit about it; only a little bit has been revealed] …but we know that when He is manifested, we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him exactly as He is" (vs 1-2).
Think about that! That's the ultimate goal! God wants to share eternal life with all of those who will come in repentance, baptism, keep His commandments, love Him and understand His love.
There are a lot of spirits out there. I don't know about you, but every once in a while I watch TBN and Daystar. They are nothing but money soliciting frauds! This week they had anointing cloths that they will send out if you send them 'a gift.' They had some of the highest ranking Protestants ministers there anointing these cloths. That's blasphemous for what anointed cloths are used for!
They are used for to send to people you can't reach who need to be healed of sickness or have demons cast out. Not so you can collect money and send a cloth out them as a fake thing! I was watching them! They were anointing all these cloths!
There is a spirit that moves with the Protestants that's not of God. You watch them. They talk about the spirit does this, and the spirit that does that and everything else. But you can tell the Spirit of God vs the spirit of Satan because the spirit of Satan will lead you into sin in things that sound good. 'Oh, I'll send in this $50 and get one of these cloths.'
1-John 4:3: "…And this is the spirit of antichrist, which you heard was to come, and even now it is already in the world. You are of God, little children… [if you have the Spirit of God you are of God] …and have overcome them because greater is He Who is in you… [Christ and God the Father] …than the one who is in the world. They are of the world; because of this, they speak of the world, and the world listens to them" (vs 3-5).
- that's why they're popular
- that's why they're received
What's more important, to be notice by the world or to be known of God?
Verse 6[transcriber's correction]: "We are of God; the one who knows God…" How do we know God?
1-John 5:1: "Everyone who believes that Jesus is the Christ has been begotten by God…"
Understand something about belief: belief also requires obedience. Not just a pronouncement that you acknowledge that Jesus is the Christ. That's not what it's talking about. Even Satan acknowledges that.
"…and everyone who loves Him… [God the Father and Jesus Christ] …Who begat also loves him who has been begotten by Him. By this standard we know that we love the children of God: when we love God and keep His commandments" (vs 1-2).
Stop and think about it! When we're done with this message today, and you open your Bible to study, I want you to go to Exo. 20 and Deut. 5—two places where the Ten Commandments are given. I want you to read them and think about them. I want you to understand and find where any of these commandments are hateful, mean, cruel or harsh. You will find that none of them are.
As a matter of fact, go onto Church at Home {Churchathome.org} and I did a half-hour segment on How to Live in Perfectville {#5 in series: Come Out of Her, My People}
If everybody kept the commandments of God, we would have a perfect society. We would:
- have the true God
- have no idols
- not take His name in vain
- all keep the Sabbath and His Holy Days
- all honor father and mother
- no juvenile delinquency
- no teenage drugs
- do no murder
In this stupid society we have today, murder is going because they want to get rid of the police!
- not steal
That goes on all the time! Half of these phone solicitations is to steal your money!
- not bear false witness
- not covet
IF everybody in the town lived by the Ten Commandments:
- you would have no crime
- you would not need a jail
- you would not need policemen
You could have those who keep law and order!
Verse 3: "For this is the love of God: that we keep His commandments, and His commandments are not burdensome." They don't burden you down; they release you from sin!
Verse 4: "Now then, everyone who is begotten by God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that overcomes the world—our faith."
All of that has to do with the grace of God and the love of God!
IF you are wanting to know the Truth and love of God, God the Father and Jesus Christ are dealing in your life. IF you want Them to continue dealing in your life, THEN you have to keep searching for God's way. He will lead you. He will help you.
It's not like what they ask you to do in Protestantism: If you say this little prayer, 'Lord, I believe You're my Savior. Forgive my sins' and now you're saved for all eternity.
That's not the way that it goes! That is a false way!
John 6:44 is tremendous grace; God dealing in our lives, each one of us. This is why the elders are not to rule over the brethren. God is dealing with each one of them as well.
John 6:44: "No one… [think about that] … can come to Me… [be a Christian] …unless the Father…"—God the Father! The Great Sovereign of the whole universe!
Think about Who is dealing in your life. It's not just seeking a religion that you're comfortable with. It is seeking the Truth of God for eternal life! He's dealing in your life!
"…unless the Father Who sent Me, draws him…" (v 44).
That's the way we start! And it generally starts when we're in trouble and we know that we need help and we know we can't do it ourselves, and we cry out to God. Every single one of us who are baptized can remember the very moment that God first stared with us, because that's when we cried out to God.
I can tell you that my own experience was God, help me! My life is a mess! God will deal with you. The way of man never works. God will draw you to Him.
"…and I… [the finished product; it goes from "…draws him…' to the end] …will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, 'And they shall all be taught by God.'…." (vs 44-45).
That's what happens when you study the Bible; God is teaching you. When you read the words that are written, that were first spoken and then written, it's the same as if God is talking to you personally. That's why Jesus is a personal Savior! God the Father is dealing with us personally through His grace!
"…And they shall all be taught by God…. [that's quite a wonderful thing] …Therefore, everyone who has heard from the Father, and has learned, comes to Me" (v 45).
There's another verse that goes right with that. So, when you come in repentance, because God the Father is drawing you, and you know that you need forgiveness through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, you're coming to God the Father and Jesus Christ together!
John 14:1: "Let not your heart be troubled…."
- don't be anxious
- don't be troubled
- don't be upset
- don't be worried
"…You believe in God… [the Father] …believe also in Me…. [Jesus Christ] …In My Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were otherwise, I would have told you. I am going to prepare a place for you" (vs 1-2).
Think about that! If you don't think that's exciting, read about New Jerusalem and what it looks like there in Rev. 21. That place is New Jerusalem! How's that for a place to live forever?
Verse 3: "And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; so that where I am, you may be also."
When He returns it 's going to be a spectacular thing; the resurrection is going to take place. We're going to meet Him in the air on the Sea of Glass. That will be something!
Verse 4: "'And where I am going you know, and the way you know.' Thomas said to Him, 'Lord, we do not know where You are going; how then can we know the way?'" (vs 4-5).
Jesus gave Thomas the answer. It's like this today: How do you find God? You cry out to Him in repentance!
Verse 6: Jesus said to him, 'I am the Way, and the Truth, and the Life; no one comes to the Father except through Me.'"
They work together! That's all by the grace of God and the love of God!
We have enough trouble in the world, so let's get our mind on Christ and what He is doing!
Scriptural References:
- Jude 3-4
- Psalm 86:15-16
- Isaiah 55:6-9
- Acts 2:36-38
- Romans 6:14
- Romans 7:1
- Romans 3:10-19
- Romans 3:10-19
- Romans 6:1-16
- 1 John 3:1-2
- 1 John 4:3-6
- 1 John 5:1-4
- John 6:44-45
- John 14:1-6
Scriptures referenced, not quoted:
- Exodus 20
- Deuteronomy 5
- Revelation 21
Also referenced:
In-Depth Studies:
- Grace of God
- God's Grace and Commandment Keeping
- Grace Upon Grace
- Love of God
Booklet: Grace of God in the Bible
Church at Home {churchathome.org}: How to Live in Perfectville {#5 in series: Come Out of Her My People}
FRC:bo
Transcribed: 10-13-21
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